


Corrupt ( or By Any Means Necessary)

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: 1800s, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Arson, Attempted Murder, Cat and Mouse, Cello, Childhood Trauma, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Forced Marriage, Gunshot Wounds, M/M, Manipulation, Minor Poe Dameron/Finn, Murder Mystery, Near Death Experiences, Orphanage, Poison, Possible Character Death, Rey Kenobi, Sexual Tension, Some Scenes May Be Triggering, Unreliable Narrator, Violins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-01-05 02:37:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 48,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12181263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A new killer has come to town...Rey Kenobi and Kylo Ren team up to solve a case that may be way over the both of their heads.





	1. Fire Brings Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took three cups of black tea and a chocolate bar to finish this. Idk when I'll update, because research takes a while. Hope you like.

In the countryside of Takodana, there is a small orphanage tucked away in the hillside. It hardly attracted any visitors, and the girls had often conspired amongst each other as to just why that was. The general consensus was that they were two things that the average family did not want. One, they were too wild and loudmouthed about their opinions. Two, they were too smart to ever get a husband. It didn’t really matter to most of the girls anyway. When they were eighteen, they were set free and could go make their own way in the world. Or that’s what the caretakers had told them. Rey knew that wasn’t the full truth.

    When Paige Tico had turned eighteen, she promised her sister that she’d write to her every day. Then she’d disappeared, and Rose was left with the hope that her letter just got continuously lost in the post. She’d confided in Rey, asked her to help her find out what was wrong, and Rey agreed to help her. After all  the girl was always in the shadows. She was always that girl that was always forgotten, and that let her roam the orphanage unnoticed. The both of them had come up with a plan in the middle of the night. Rose would pretend to faint in the garden time they were allowed in the evening, causing a general commotion, and Rey would slip back inside, and steal the janitor’s keys. If the caretakers were hiding something, it wouldn't be hard to find out.

Rey, of course, accounted for the fact that she could very possibly get caught by one of the caretakers. She had set up two back up plans in the case of that happening. The first one involving a knife she’d stolen from the kitchen and extortion. The second involved two girls that possessed a particular sadism that the teenage girl didn’t want to utilize. She gave the signal, and Rose fainted in the most dramatic way possible. One of the more gullible girls gasped, running to go get help from one of the caretakers. Everyone else began to gather around her. Rey used this commotion to sneak back in through the garden entrance after the caretaker came out.

The inside of the orphanage was silent without the other girls inside. Rey almost liked it. She shook her head, remembering the task at hand. She took off her shoes and hid them behind a coat rack, preceding to head down the hallway. The janitor, Unkar Plutt, was never in his office, and Rey was thankful for that. The slimy man was almost always never seen in the orphanage itself, despite his gargantuan size. _God knows what he was doing._

Whatever it was, he wasn't exactly being smart about it. He kept a copy of his keys in plain sight on his desk. Rey grabbed them, leaning under the desk as she opened each drawer, shuffling through each dusty piece of parchment that she could find. Most of them were just requests for money that he'd neglected to look at, and various other mundane things that Rey had no interest in. What she did find interesting was the key that was in the last drawer, labeled ‘tunnel’. Rey took it and ran.

 

She estimated a good five minutes before things had the potential of getting bad. The girl jumped several stairs as she headed to where she thought this ‘tunnel’ was. The adrenaline in her veins pushed her as fast as she could go, but it didn't allow her to mentally prepare for what she was going to see. The girl used a different key to open the broom closet right under the staircase.  She heard a satisfying, _‘click,’_ and let herself in, the light from the outside barely illuminated the back of the closet, but Rey could still see a small crack between the two walls that made up the back of the broom closet. Rey closed the door behind her, pressing against the back wall.

There was definitely an air current. She moved her fingers along the walls until she found the key hole, and opened the door. That was a little too easy, but Rey didn’t have time to think about that. The inside of the tunnel was dark and cold, and the stairs nearly went almost straight down. The girl made sure she wasn’t going to break her neck as she scaled the stairs, and was glad when her wet stockings finally hit the ground. The room that she’d entered was small, only lit by one oil lamp, with chains all over the walls. It seemed like many of them had been worn out from the people they’d been attached to. “Oh my,” Rey almost gagged as a certain stench hit her. “Paige?”

She hoped to god that that smell wasn’t Paige, _or any other girl that had left the orphanage._ She saw a mass of white, that could be a dead body. _Could be,_ it didn’t necessarily mean it was. The girl poked it with her toe, expecting it to move and someone to pop up out of the mess of cloth. Nothing happened. “Please don’t be Paige.” The girl grabbed the white cloths and pulled it back. She should’ve known. Paige had been down here for a long time, god knew how long it had been since she had eaten, or seen the light. Rey closed her eyes, trying to shut out the image of the girl’s body, and turned around. She’d forgotten how much time had passed, and decided it was best to head up stairs as soon as possible. It was easy to get back out in the common room, where everyone seemed to be fawning over Rose to make sure the young girl was okay, and Rey snuck past everyone to put the keys back in the janitor’s closet before joining the mix and waiting for things to disperse. She’d told the caretakers that she would take care of Rose for the rest of the evening and make sure she’s okay, and they seemed perfectly fine with that.

“Did you find what you needed?” Rose asked when no one was around. Rey looked down at her feet, wishing she had her shoes, or that she could be somewhere else right now. “Rey?” There was no way to break it lightly to the girl. If she burst out crying in the middle of the orphanage and Plutt was nearby, it wouldn’t take long to find out what was wrong? She said it for Rey. “She’s dead, isn’t she?” The girl nodded, and Rose sat back in the couch, smoothing out her dress calmly. “Who did it?”

“The janitor,” Rey said.

“I am going to kill him,”

Rey grabbed her arm before the girl could get up off the couch, “We have to be rational with this.” The girl said. “I know that you want to kill him and I do too, but if we try and go after a man we hardly ever see we could end up in the same place that Paige is. We need to do this effectively,”

 

“Then what do you suggest?” Rose hissed. Rey almost panicked, trying to think up something on the spot. She wanted Rose and her to get out alive, it was simplest to reduce the variables of their escape to that.

  
“I have an idea,” she said, “but you're not going to like it.” Rose sat there, listening intently, grimacing the entire time, but seeing as it was their only plan, she agreed to it. The gist of the plan was that Rose was to find Unkar Plutt, and convince him she had lied about her age, Rey would be there to help with the rest. 

“You're going to get me killed,” Rose told the girl.

“Not if you do what I tell you,” Rey took the knife she stole from her skirt. Rose opened her mouth, probably to ask where in the hell she had hid that, but decided better of it and closed her mouth. “I am going to be as close to you as possible, but this is in case something goes wrong. It'll be okay. Either way, he'll end up in flames.”

* * *

 

Coruscant was a large city, it’s success due to the recent industrialization of the United Kingdom. Each corner of it’s streets was brimming with people. Beggars, children, coachmen. Kylo hated them all. No matter what they all never failed to be predictable and small. “You’ve been staring at that wall for a solid hour.” His mother said. “Go outside.”

“There’s nothing worth my time out there.” He retorted. “Besides, I’m expecting a visit from the police.” Leia sighed, but said nothing, and set a cup of coffee by his side before leaving the office. It seemed this happened like clockwork, after he had solved a case his mom would come over from her flat, make him tea or a cup of coffee, and try to get him to go outside as he waited for another case. He’d developed a sense of anticipation that allowed him to tell when the Chief Superintendent, Finn Dameron, would walk through the door with another case. _One, two, three._ The door swung open once more, and the Superintendent walked through the door with a few of his men. “We need your help,” He said.

“Thought so,”

“There’s been a fire at the Mitaka’s manor, most of the wreckage was cleared and several witnesses told us the man and his wife were home, but there was no sign of their bodies anywhere.”

“Have you considered the fire being hot enough to completely burn their bodies?”

“Yes, the manor is still somewhat intact though, so I find that unlikely.”

“Take me to the manor,” The man said tiredly. He hadn’t expected to be intrigued by what he sw when they arrived at the house.  When he asked if it had been deemed safe to walk in, he entered the ruined estate. The walls were covered in irregular burn patterns and soot covered everything, as to be expected. Kylo looked down, the soot was gathered up in certain areas, so much so that it almost looked like it had been intentionally placed there to cover something up. The detective crouched down, carefully picking up a piece of rope that had been undamaged by the fire. “What did you find?”

“Evidence,” Kylo said, “the likelihood of the Mitaka’s bodies being dumped elsewhere is strong.” He then ordered the others to shut up and let him examine the rest of the house uninterrupted. This was very clearly the work of an arsonist, only someone who knew about fire could control it with such direction. The rooms that had the most damage were the main entrance, the dining room, the kitchen, and the master bedroom. There was nothing very noteworthy in them until Kylo got to the master bedroom.

Across the wall behind the dresser, two words were written lightly on the wall, it had almost been destroyed by the fire, but Kylo could still make it out. “Ungerechtigkeit stirbt,” It was German, for the two words, _injustice dies._

* * *

 

There were certain fates that a woman was doomed to in these times, no matter her brain power. Rey Kenobi knew this all too well. She was now nineteen and married to a man she did not love, and she was certain he didn't love her back. _He'd be stupid to,_ Rey thought to herself. Although she did suppose that her position was better than others. Armitage Hux was an esteemed member of Parliament and had more than his fair share of riches, so Rey was fit to do whatever she pleased. For the most part, Rey fulfilled the social duties that she was required to as the wife of a parliament member, but none of that stuff really mattered to her. The thing that mattered to her were tucked away into her own two rooms that she kept to for the rest of the time. Piles and piles of books, neatly organized but gathering dust, a science experiment here or there, newspaper clippings, puzzles, a violin, and a fire place.

She played the violin now, let it fill the silence, as she occasionally glanced outside to watch her husband not-so-graciously debating about something outside of the house. Rey rolled her eyes, absent mindedly walking about her room as she played. There was a short rap on the door that made her stop, she turned, to see Rose Tico opening it slowly. “Haven’t seen you in a while,” The girl smiled. _All of those memories and most of them were too unpleasant to forget_ , _but nevertheless, she was happy to see her_.

“I know,” She replied. “Two years?” The girls ran towards each other, the both 0f them embracing each other in a hug. After a little bit of small talk, and Rey catching up with Rose about her time in America, the two of them sat down in arm chairs near the fireplace. They stayed silent for a second, each debating whether or not to bring up old memories. Rey was the one to break the silence, “So you’ve been back a week?”

“Yes, yes I have. Visited family first but I had to come back to you.”

“Well I’m glad you’re here. Have you heard the news about the recent house fires that have been claiming the lives of several businessmen and politicians?”

“Yes. I did.” Rose raised an eyebrow when she saw the look on Rey’s face. “Do you know who did it?”

“What? No, of course not. But reading about it in the paper just makes me laugh at the incompetence of the police.”

“So you figured out something that they don’t know?”

“Well they’re looking for a man, aren’t they?” Rose nodded, “When the culprit that is targeting people who don’t support the suffragette movement.”

“So you’re suggesting that the perpetrator’s a woman? But most of the politician’s do not support the suffragette movement. Considering the fact that they’re all men threatened by the thought that women are able to possess an opinion as well.”

“I’m not done,” Rey leaned forward in her seat, “the people that have died, Dopheld Mitaka and his wife,  Mas Amedda, Raymus Antilles… they all publically denounced the movement. More than once, even made speeches about it. All excluding Mitaka’s wife, they’re rumored to be wife beaters.” She sat back in her seat, looking at Rose’s face to see if perhaps she had a plausible theory.

“And you haven’t given the police your hypothesis?”

“Are you kidding? Do you know what the police do when women enter their station? Ignore them.” Rose nodded understandingly.

“Some day that may change.”

“Yes,” Rey sighed. “But for now, we must endure it being the same.”

* * *

 

Rey began to play her violin again after a prolonged moment of silence, and Rose giggled. “Are you sure that he won’t get mad?” 

She soften the intensity in which she was playing, “Yes, he will.” Rose leaned back, sipping her tea, seeming to enjoy the little poke at her best friend’s husband. Rey fell silent after a few seconds of playing and put her instrument down haphazardly on her desk, going to the door. She held a finger to her hand, signaling for Rose to be quiet. Her two rooms were built in such a way that no one could make out a conversation from inside her eight walls, but she could hear everything if she opened the door just ever so slightly. 

“You say my life is in danger,” Hux said, “but what proof do you have?” 

“Are you aware that all of your friends have died? Dopheld Mitaka, and his wife who you were most definitely having an affair with, Mas Amedda, your political ally, and Raymus Antilles, your personal best friend. It's common sense to think that you and your wife are next.”

“Frankly, I have to say that I'm not concerned.” Rey tried not to laugh. The man was an idiot, to say the least.  “We have fine enough security as it is, as for the other accusation you have against me… I want to know how you know…”

“I didn't, I just wanted to see how much of an idiot you are.” Both Rey and Rose had heard that, and the two of them looked at each other, silently laughing. Rey walked across the floor, grabbing her violin and beginning to play again, this time obnoxiously louder.

* * *

 

“Forgive my wife, she does not seem to understand the meaning of don't play your music!” He shouted. Kylo stayed calm. 

“She plays violin, quite beautiful… tell me is your wife the type of woman to brazenly do something just to spite you?” He didn't give the politician time to answer that question.  “Do me a favor and bring her here. I would love to meet her.” The man didn't seem too happy with that, but he had the maid go back upstairs and fetch her.  A petite girl came bustling into the room, she was a fair skinned brunette, about nineteen or twenty. She stuck out her hand for Kylo to shake and he took it. Her hands were rather rough for a girl with such a nice place to live. 

“Mr. Ren, it's nice to meet you. You must be the detective I've heard so much about.” Something about her voice caught his alarm, like she was cluing him on some sort of inside joke. “I'm Rey, is there anything that I can do for you men?”

“Ren, what's the meaning of this?” Kylo held his hand up as a sign to be quiet. 

“I'm going to ask you a few questions, is that okay?” He asked Rey. She nodded and sat down. “Great. What do you think the likelihood of your husband being a killer is?”

“Not very likely,” She said. It was almost immediate, but not passionate or defensive of him at all. 

“Oh?” 

“Too messy,”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Mr. Hux if you do not quiet down I will be forced to lock you out of your own office.” Kylo's voice was stern enough to elicit a red-faced silence from the ginger. “Thank you for your concise response, Rey. Now, did you know your husband was in relation with another woman?”

“Yes, I suspected so. He's free to do as he pleases though,” These answers were too aloof for someone who cared about her husband. 

“Are you familiar with the arsonist going around killing politicians and businessmen?” She nodded her head yes, her eyes gleaming. Kylo could almost see her mind processing things, perhaps at a speed as fast as his. “I would be interested to hear your thoughts as to who the killer is,”

Rey shifted a little in her chair. “My opinions?”

“Yes, I just asked.”

“Well I'm afraid I don't know very much, the newspaper don't tell us everything.” She said. 

“Go off of what you already know,” The detective ordered. “Then I'll have observed what I needed and I will be out of your hair,”

“I think that the police are looking for the wrong sort of person.” She said. “From the papers, I know that this killer is a vigilante type. Thinks that their morals are the only type of morals that are real and just. Suspect is likely to be a stronger man originating from Germany because every note left had the words   _ injustice dies  _ written in German. At least the suspect is a German man to the police, but it seems like people are missing a pattern. Each man that was killed was a direct opponent of the suffrage movement that's just started around here, and so the likelihood of it being a woman is more likely than it being a man.”  Kylo felt like smacking himself in the head.  _ How had he not thought of that _ ? “As for the German, it could very well  be the perpetrator’s native tongue, but that doesn't mean that there is not a chance of them being British as well. They could just know german and be sending notes in german because they want to throw off the police, and I assume that trick worked on you as well.” She talked so fast and was so sure with herself, that the detective could not help but be intrigued. 

“I'm sorry to interrupt but what is-”

“Out.” Kylo barked. The man did as ordered, with some added grumbling as well. 

“That was an excellent hypothesis, Rey.”  _ Almost too excellent _ . “You're quite a woman of intellect.” Intellect was rare these days. Not just in women but in men as well. “I have to say, your ability to piece together the perpetrator’s gender and  motive is impressive. Especially when you haven't been on any of these crime scenes before.”

“Am I free to go now?” The woman asked. 

“If you don't mind I have to ask one more question,” Kylo wasn't thinking about if he'd regret this or not in the future. “Will you work with me on this case?” 


	2. Bad Moon Rising

“Will you work with me on this case?” Kylo asked. He was sure that she would have said yes, her eyes had widened and she looked shocked to hear this.  But as soons as the man saw her lose her composure, she gained it back.

"No."

“What?”

“You see, I’m afraid that it would make my dear husband stressed and I would not want to be the reason for that stress. Best of luck with your investigation though.” Kylo didn't know what to say, Rey ushered him out and he was left with a carriage waiting for him and not much else to say.

* * *

 

It’s been three weeks since anything of note happened, and Finn had been getting an earload from Kylo, until today. Kylo was informed about another politician that had just been hit. “Let me guess, it’s Mr. Jango Fett.”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“It was bought to my attention that the people who have been targeted by this killer have all been very vocal opponents of the suffrage movement. It didn’t take long after to realize that Fett was the next victim.” He didn’t pay much attention to anyone else as he went to the scene. Everyone cleared out of the building to let him do his thing. Kylo was almost shocked by how clean it was. The fire had burned some things out and made it impossible gather any sort of forensic data, but as there had been an disproportionate amount of ash and debris in the way of everything else, despite the fact that there had been little evidence to collect from the crime scene. Now, it was sterile, taunting in a way. As if the killer knew that Kylo would be investigating this case.

This time Jango Fett and his son were dead, placed intentionally in the middle of the room. The note was pinned to the man’s chest this time. Still in German. Written in what was presumably the blood from the son’s neck. The note read, “ _Mr. Ren, did you know_ ”. It was incomplete.

There was more.

“Someone’s challenging you.” A voice in his mind said. Kylo remembered what Rey had said about the likelihood of it being a woman, but how would a woman know that he was the one working the case? It hadn’t been announced to the public. He shook the thought from his head for a moment and thought. If a woman was the perpetrator of these crimes she must’ve gotten someone taller than her to commit the murders and write the notes, the handwriting was hasty and rough, nothing like the handwriting of a woman. Each blow to them was more violent and sloppy than the others, and everything looked fresh, like they had been taken out of the house until it burned down and the fires were extinguished. It was almost as if this murder was being _sarcastic_. 

“So, any deductions?” Finn asked. The man looked tired, to say the least. “Anything I can tell the public.”

“Yes, you can tell them if they're poor or female or both the chances of them dying is lower than the ones of the wealthy and the men. You might also want to perform a miracle and get women voting rights,”

“Okay so nothing,”

“Yes. Don't tell the public what we know. There's a likelihood that the person in question gets their information from the news so let's keep this on this quiet for the time being, agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Now, I have some business to attend to with an additional _client_ , so I'll be going now.” He didn't give Finn time to say a thing before he left.

* * *

 

It took Rey all of about five minutes to realize that someone was following her, and another two seconds to figure out that it was Kylo Ren. She sighed, wishing that he would’ve just taken no for an answer. _Unless she was a suspect,_ she thought. _No, that was ridiculous, he would do a better job of making sure that I can’t see him if she was a suspect. This was something else entirely._ Rey kept walking, turning her head to the side of the bakery window just in time to catch his reflection. He saw her. She kept walking along the square. Kylo was right next to her now. "Why are you following me, Mr. Ren? I already told you that the answer is no, I am not going to help you with your case.”

“Yes, I remember, and I have to ask, why?”

“If you really are as smart as the papers say you are, you would have realized why by now. I’m not going to spell it out for you. But that’s not the only reason that you’re talking to me right now, is it?” She raised an eyebrow. “So what is it?”

“There’s been another death,”

“People die all the time, Mr. Ren.”

“Another fire,” So he was here because he wanted her opinion, it seemed that no matter how hard she tried she wasn’t going to get out of this one. “I think you’ll be interested in this one.”

“Talk,”

“The person that was hit was Jango Fett and his son. But the murder was different, it was clear that they were placed in the house after the fire had already been extinguished, both of them had to be killed by blunt force trauma, mutilated post mortem to send me a note.”

“What did the note say?”

“It said, Mr. Ren did you know…”

“So there’s another note, obviously. Or they ran out of blood.”

“Is that it?”

“You want my opinion again, Mr. Ren. I told you that I would not be assisting in this case, and I do not want anything to do with it.”

“Because it would cause your husband stress or some manufactured answer like that. I know that you’re lying, and besides, even if you were in fact telling the truth, he isn’t here right now. You are free to do whatever you wish to.”

“Is a woman ever truly free to do what she wants in society?” Kylo took a step back from her, “But fine, I guess that I am actually interested in this case so I will help you for however long it takes me to meet up with my friends, okay?” The detective nodded. “So you told me that Jango Fett and his son were placed inside the house after the house fire had been extinguished, and that they were both killed by blunt force trauma. That doesn’t sound like the M.O. of the other killer. So there’s a possibility that there’s another one of these killers. One that’s stronger and more emotional. Perhaps the two are working together. The stronger more passionate being controlled by the other who seems to be more calculating. Perhaps if that theory is correct, the note was ordered to be written by the person who’s controlling this other because they know you are the one that’s investigating this case, taunting you. Is it correct to assume that the general public doesn’t know that you are the one investigating the case?”

“Yes,”

“Then the person you’re looking for has a person on the inside, someone one on the police force that’s leaking information to the killers.” He was staring at her. “Mr. Ren…”

“Yes, sorry?”

“Was that enough for you or would you like more?”

“No, that was enough for now. You would make an excellent detective, Rey.” She smiled, her eyes momentarily dancing as she thought of being a detective. “Your mind is valuable.” The girl reminded herself to calm down, her smile turning back into the plain grimace that she usually kept out in public.

“That’s very sweet of you,” she looked behind her. She could see Rose, Jyn, and Phasma waiting for her a ways away. “Now, if you can excuse me, I’m keeping my friends waiting. Goodbye, Mr. Ren.”

“Goodbye, Rey.”

“Do me a favor,”

“Yes?”

“Stop following me,”

* * *

 

Kylo couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to Rey than what meets the eye. Even as he watched her walking away with her friends, chatting amongst the rest of the women walking around, he felt like maybe, _just maybe,_ there was something off about the girl. For the moment, he shook it off. He had work to do anyway. What Rey told him had given him an idea. There was two killers, from what he could tell, and one of them had information from the police task force. It was time to talk to Finn.

No one ever went to Kylo’s house unless it involved murder or some other case that went over their head, so Kylo knew that when he invited the Chief Superintendent to come over he would be nervous as to why he would be there. He came in practically sweating. “I got your message.” The man said, “it was rather cryptic.”

“Yes, for a reason.” Kylo said. “Won't you sit down, chief?” The man did, Kylo watched him squirm nervously for a few seconds. “Do you know why you're here?”

“No,” He admitted.

“That's fine. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the police force here in Coruscant if you don't mind.” Finn nodded, clearly relieved that that was his request and not something completely outrageous.

“Go ahead,”

“Were you aware that there is a mole in your police force?”

“What?” the man practically choked on air.

“Yes, I thought that it was pretty obvious but my mistake. The general public does not know that I'm working on the case, which means the likeliness of there being a mole giving the killer or killers information is very likely considering the beginning of the note that was left for me at the most current crime scene. _Now,_ do you have any ideas as to who this mole might be?”

“All of the boys on my task force are loyal to their job, Mr. Ren.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I-”

“Because money can get a man to do many things, Chief. If I were you, I'd start interrogating your officers now.” Finn got up. “I want results by the end of the week.”

“You will get them when you get them, Mr. Ren. But I'm telling you, none of them are moles.”

“Let your bias keep telling you that, Chief Superintendent.”

* * *

 

”Who was that?” Was the first thing that Jyn asked Rey when they were out of earshot of Kylo Ren.

“The detective, Mr. Ren.” Rose said. “He's quite enamored with her, you know.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Oh please, we've almost met twice, ten minutes if you count the meetings as a collective.”

“In both meetings, you've shown your superior intellect and told him to sod off. He seems like the kind of man who would like that in a woman.” 

“Aren't you a married woman, though?” Jyn giggled.

“Oh, you two need to shut up. I thought that we were all above gossip anyways.”

“You're no fun,” Jyn teased.

“What were you talking with the detective about?” Phasma asked.

“A case. I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say much more.”

“Is it about the arsonist?” That was fast. “Seems right up your alley.” Rey smirked. “It's the arsonist.”

“Right as ever, Phasma.”

“You know it.”

* * *

 

Kylo had been awake for hours,  mulling over what little evidence he had. The new note _… Mr. Ren, did you know? Did he know what? Did he know that a human corpse takes two to six hours to enter rigor mortis? Did he know that the Earth was round? It could be anything… Two killers, possibly more than two, and a mole either being bribed with money or blackmailed in to obedience._

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

 

When Rey got home, Hux was waiting for her. “Where have you been?”

“Out in the city, getting your things.” The hint of maliciousness in her voice was enough to get the man up off his chair in the living room.

“Did that detective try and approach you?”

“No. I just ran into Rose, Jyn, and Phasma so I decided to stay and talk with them for a bit before coming home.” She put a parcel in his hands, “the book you asked for.” She said. “Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to my room.”

* * *

 

Four o’ clock in the morning and Kylo was just starting to fall asleep when Finn burst through the door. “The Hux’s mansion,” He panted. “It's on fire.”

“What?”

“The Hux manor is on fire. We suspect it's the killer. The volunteer firemen are trying to put it out as we speak.”

Rey.

Kylo jumped up, putting his coat on and running out the door with Finn close behind him. 

Sometimes Kylo cursed how slow carriages could be. Despite the fact that the horses were being pushed to their absolute limit, they weren't moving fast enough. Nothing was ever fast enough. Kylo needed to know what had happened. Would the killer be nearby? Or would they be far away by now? Would Rey wind up dead?

The answer was no. Rey was not dead. She stood a good distance away from the burning mansion, barefooted, and in a white nightgown. She held her violin in one hand and her bow in the other. There was an odd aura of silence around her, where everyone else was panicking, trying to put the fire out, she just stood there, her knuckles white and her face even whiter. She was in shock. “Rey,” Kylo said gently.

“I told him to get you. Took long enough.” Her voice was quiet. She sounded puzzled, upset, but not like a woman whose house was burning down with her husband possibly inside it.

“What did you see?”

“Enough,” She replied.

“Did you see anyone's face?” Finn asked.

“No, but I witnessed a murder all the same. He's definitely dead, I was playing the violin upstairs when they broke in. They slit his throat.”

“Oh god,” Finn hissed. He turned and directed his attention to helping the volunteer firemen.

When he was gone, Rey's head snapped upright. “One of them was six feet tall and very well dressed, red piece of cloth covering their mouth. They had a revolver and a very large knife and they saw me but they didn't threaten me. Whoever it was gave me a note for you.” She handed Kylo her violin to hold for a second as she fished a small piece of paper out of her night gown. The note read, _that the god of justice_ … in German.

“Mr. Ren, I need a place to stay.”

“Yes, of course. You can stay at my flat until you get off your feet, there's an extra bedroom I don't use.”

“Thank you. In return, I'll help you with this case.”

Kylo cocked his head to the side. Was this some form of payment? She didn't need to do that. “Really?”

“Yes,”

“Thank you, Rey.” He handed her her violin back, she took it, sighing.

“Welcome… I presume I have to go to the police station now,”

“For questioning? Yes.”

“That will be fun,”

Time went by slower when you were held for questioning. Rey could confirm that. She had been staring at the same cracks in the wall for the past three hours waiting to be interrogated. “Am I going to die in here?” She muttered to herself. As if on cue, the Chief Superintendent walked through the door with Kylo right on his heels. Both of them were looking very frazzled at the moment.

“Sorry for the delay, Ms. Kenobi. Mr. Ren and I were… discussing some things outside.” Rey  refrained from making a smart comment, “I will try and make this fairly short for the both of our sakes.” _Good, so she wasn’t mistakenly being thrown into the suspect mix,_ she thought to herself.

“I need to know exactly what you saw,” Finn said.

“Wouldn’t Kylo have told you that himself?”

“Yes, but I still need the eye witness account.”

“I understand,” Rey sighed. “I saw my husband get murdered in our dining room.” She hissed. “The person who killed him was tall, really tall, and they were dressed very well, specially tailored suit. Red cloth covering their face.”

“Did this person try to speak to you?”

“No. I mean, I was still in the house when the fire started, but they didn’t try to physically attack me.” Finn nodded, writing down notes.

“Do you have any ideas as to who might’ve done this? Anyone who had a vendetta against your husband?”

“No. I don’t know. He never talked about his work while I was around.”

“Right, that’s okay. That’s all we need for now. Thank you. You two can leave now,”

* * *

 

After he dismissed the two and they were out of the police station, Rey said, “The next time you take three hours out of my day like that I am going to throttle you.”

“Noted.” The ride home was pretty much silent, Kylo held Rey's instrument in one hand and her bow in the other. It only occurred to him that he should've given her his coat when they had gotten to his flat, _too late now._ He told himself. He gave her back her violin to let her in, gesturing to the stairs.

“Thank you for this, Mr. Ren.”

“Just Kylo is fine, and it's the least I can do after you just lost your home.”  The two of them were half way up the stairs when the detective remembered that his mother’s flat was adjacent to his. The woman had let herself into the flat to clean up downstairs when she came over to see who Kylo was talking to.

“Kylo… what are you up to- who's this?”

“This is a friend she just lost her house to a fire, she'll stay here until she finds a place to live, that's final, bye.” He pushed Rey upstairs before turning to his mother, who was eyeing him suspiciously.

“It is not like that,”

“Right,”

* * *

 

Kylo's home was cozier than Rey imagined it being. Cozier than a home that Rey had ever been in. She was slightly reminded of her own room, complete with a mess of books and papers on scientific studies, a variety of test tubes, and a fireplace. She took a seat on the armchair next to the fireplace, and closed her eyes, Rey could already see it.

Living here. Solving crimes. She'd just need new clothes first.  


	3. Deductions in Blue

For a man, Rey had to admit that Kylo Ren had an excellent fashion taste. The day after she had started living at his flat, the man had bought an array of different dresses and shoes for her, and laid them out on her bed while she was playing the violin absent mindedly in the living room. She’d wondered how he knew her measurements, but quickly dismissed the thought. She went into the living room after she’d gotten dressed. “Thank you for the clothes, Mr. Ren.”

“Hmm? Oh yes. No problem.” He was studying a book for German, probably brushing up on it in case the arsonist struck again. “Listen, you might need to be ready to act smart, can you do that?”

“You make it sound like I can turn it off and on,” She laughed. “Why do I need to act smart?”

“In about five minutes the Chief Superintendent is about to come through the door and say that there’s been another murder and request that I go off and solve it, I want you to come along with me, and you know that the police aren’t just going to let you come along with me.”

“So you want me to impress them into letting me go with you?” She almost laughed. _How much more do I have to prove myself?_

“Yes, I thought I made this clear.” Rey sat down in the seat across from Kylo. They stayed silent for a second before he asked, “Any hypothesis’ as to who did this?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, now. I'm bored.”

“We have three minutes before they even get here.”

“So? Consider it a warm up. Now talk fast.”

Rey rolled her eyes in dismay, but felt obliged to tell him her hypothesis anyway. “So we’ve established that there is more than one killer, so there's obviously a mastermind behind these crimes, likely a woman. That woman has to be wealthy in order to pay her other killers, so the most likely killer is a woman of wealth who is dissatisfied with being a housewife.” He eyed her for a second before getting up and put his hand on the door knob. Rey realized that her description of the killer sounded almost exactly like her.

“And would you say that your morals align with our killer’s?”

“As to women being afforded the right to vote or as to murder?” Rey quipped.

“Either,”

“I think I have made it very clear that I support one but not the other, Mr. Ren.” Kylo opened the door, letting the Chief Superintendent through the door. 

“Hello, Chief. I presume there’s been another murder?”

“It’s different this time.” He said. Finn didn’t even notice that Rey was there. “There’s twelve bodies, three houses, and one of the family members is missing.”

“Great,” Kylo clapped his hands together in delight. “It gets more interesting, come on Rey, let’s go.”

“Wait, what? No-”

“I’m helping him now, keep up Chief.” Rey got up from her seat, heading for the door.

“I’m sorry but I can’t have a women on the-”

“I’m sorry, but I assume you were about to say that you can’t have a woman on the crime scene? Yet we all know that the killer is a woman, and a woman’s perspective might be valuable to your case.” She paused, and Kylo raised and eyebrow, indicating that the Chief was going to need more convincing than that. “If you’re worried about my qualifications, make no mistake, I am more than qualified to be able to solve this case.” She paused, looking at the Chief Superintendent for a few seconds before she said, “Did you know that you can tell a lot about a person from their clothes? For example, I can tell that you own two dogs, one of them being a hunting dog due to the hairs higher on your pant leg than the other. You’ve recently visited your significant other, I can smell their cologne on you, although the last time I saw you, you were wearing a different cologne. You’ve also only slept about four hours today, which is rather unhealthy, you should get some more sleep or at least some caffeine, in the time that you’ve been here, you’ve blinked at least four times more than that average person and suppressed a yawn twice it’s not exactly hard to estimate how much sleep you’ve had after that. Now if you’re still doubting my abilities I was the one who was able to come to the conclusion that our killer was a woman from just what the newspaper said about the deaths of the parliament members and clued Kylo in on this.”

Finn turned to Kylo. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” The Chief Superintendent sighed, making himself look more tired than he already was.

“Fine, she can tag along.” Then he turned to her, “You do know this doesn’t mean you’ll be added to the police’s payroll?”

“She doesn’t care about the money,, Finn, the girl already has the inheritance of a millionaire,  she only wants something to do. Now let’s stop standing around here and actually go solve some murders?” Kylo had put his coat on and waited at the end of the stairs of his flat.

“Is he always like this?” Rey asked.

“Yes,” Finn replied. “Yes, he is.”

* * *

 

The first home they went to was owned by a man who had a very large stock in the steel industry in the U.K., Allen Valkorion. As soon as they arrived on the scene, Kylo could smell burnt carrion. Rey made a face as well and they got out of the carriage together. Each murder seemed to be getting more and more dramatic. Almost immediately, they were greeted by a head on a pike outside the burnt estate. “Well I guess we won’t have to go very far to find the body.” Rey moved along. She was less affected by the sight of a dead body than he thought she would’ve been. _Don’t underestimate Rey Kenobi._

The pathway was covered by leaves that were starting to due to the fall, the grass burnt by the fire, everything else seemed pretty immaculate, there were no discarded weapons to find, just the walls of the manor feebly standing. If the wind had been any stronger, they might’ve blown over. 

The man's corpse was right in the entrance. A large pool of congealing blood was around where his head used to be, but besides that, the murderer hadn’t wasted their time in writing their message in the victim’s blood.

Rey and Kylo bent down simultaneously, beginning to examine the corpse of the business man. He was married, that was the most obvious. He wore a wedding band on one hand and carried a picture of his wife in one of his pockets. On the back of the picture, a note written in German.

“What does the note say?” Rey asked.

“I didn’t say it was even a note.”

“What does the note say?” She repeated.

“Never have clean hands.” Rey was silent for a moment before she leaned back.

“This person is claiming to be a god of justice? That is rich. Someone is rather conceited. A person who resorts to violence and taunting in order to fight for their cause is idiotic at best, now for the murder, would you like to start or shall I?” She got up, dusting off the blue skirt of her dress.

* * *

 

“If it’s alright with you, I’ll start this time.” Rey gestured to him, telling the man that it was okay to start out with his hypothesis. They both turned towards Finn, seemingly in sync with each other. “Right, his body has already entered rigor mortis so he’s been dead for at least two to six hours, meaning he was killed before the fire started. He was married, but obviously not fairly faithful.”

“And how do you know that?” Finn asked.

“Fairly simple. Look at his wedding band, dirty on the outside, fairly clean on the inside meaning he removes it regular in order to have sexual intercourse with other women. Anyways, do not interrupt me until I’m done. Thank you very much, Chief Superintendent. The cause of his death wasn’t the decapitation, although the blood from his head has been there a while, he was killed before decapitation. That part is just for show-.”

“Yes, the most likely killer is poison.” Rey interrupted, “I noticed a distinct smell when I bent down to examine him-”

“Sulfur-”

“Yes, sulfur. Now, for the rest of the murder. Where’s his wife?”

“We haven’t found her.” Finn admitted. “There’s no sign of her anywhere.” No sign of her anywhere. That might put a stopper in things. Rey sighed, trying to think of the probability of if the wife may be dead or not, turned around and turned back to Kylo.

“Are you familiar with Allen Valkorion and the steel industry?”

“Yes. Somewhat, why?”

“Because they also own part of the Moors, a central dumping ground for bodies.”

“Are you suggesting that we look there for the wife’s bodies?” Rey turned back to the corpse, looking it up and down.

“What? No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying that you need to look there for any bodies that may be missing in this future string of murders because that may be one of the easiest places for them to dispose of the bodies. Water in the creeks strips them clean of any evidence as their bodies are swept away. I have no idea where the wife is. Now, as far as I’m certain, Allen Valkorion hasn’t publically denounced the suffragette movement so there may be something else going on here. Abuse, marital rape, something of that nature-”

“-are you suggesting that the wife murdered him?”

“No, I’m suggesting that she asked someone to murder him for her. It’s less direct but still gets the job done. And if the murderer is caught, a specific sum of money was paid by her to keep their mouth shut.”

“Excellent. Yes, that seems like the most likely case scenario. The question is, where is the wife now?” Neither of them seemed to be able to come up with an answer for that. There was nothing around the house or the grounds of the estate to suggest her whereabouts.” The both of them wrapped up their investigation and headed to the next estate.

The next estate was not as big as the first, making it easier for the both of them to make a cursory glance of the grounds around it. This estate was the most damaged by far, another low grade politician who had spoken out against women’s rights, but this one instead lessening the sentence of a serial rapist. Rey kept it to herself, but she was glad that that man died, he was one of the men who actually did deserve it. Just as the last murder, this one varied again. The man was inside the main entrance of his own, but this time was burnt to a crisp, the smell of burnt carrion and gasoline plagued the air, and everyone was suffering because of it. Rey didn’t get too close to this man,  she let Kylo do most of the deducing in this case.

All of his deductions were right, the starting of the fire had been from the man himself, there were clear signs of struggle and burnt rope on his skin, so someone had decided it was most fitting to kill him by immolation. He wasn’t married and didn’t have any living family, no one would miss him.

“Bist du sicher,” _Are you sure_ in German. Rey could already tell what this letter was going message was going to say. _Are you sure that you want to go against a God of Justice?_ This was taunting and childish. It was clear that this killer saw this as some sort of sadistic game. 

This person is bad, I’m going to kill them, and there’s nothing you can do about it, is essentially the message tat they kept on sending. They headed out, Finn leading the way to the third estate. “You were oddly quiet back there.” Kylo whispered.

“Yes,” she said.

“Remind me was he the politician that lessened the sentence of a serial rapist to just a measly five years in prison?”

“Yes,”

“Ah, that explains it.”

“Is it wrong of me to not want to waste my intellect on a pig like that?”

“No, not at all. But don’t make your opinion make your opinion on some of these victims so vocal, I don’t know if you know this but the police and Coruscant are rather incompetent despite trying their best and if you show an opinion on these men they’ll start to believe that you’re the killer.”

“You basically asked me if I was the killer this morning, Mr. Ren.”

“Yes, but that’s different. I was asking because I thought that there might be a three percent chance that you were in some relation with the killer, they will most likely think that you are the killer.”

“Ah.” That wasn’t much better in her mind, “And do you still think that I may have some relation to the killer, Mr, Ren?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t.” He would be correct in that assumption. Despite the fact that she and the killer had a similar description and motive, they were in no way motivated by the the same morals. Killing in order to get a message across is done by someone who’s incapable of communicating like a regular, intellectual individual. _Killing for self defense, now that’s a different story._

“You okay?”

“Yes. Smoke just got to me a little.”

“You mean the smell of burnt flesh?” Rey rolled her eyes. _Semantics._ “You never get used to that.” He said.

“Great.” She said. “That’s comforting.” The third estate was the least damaged of them all. It seemed that only the top floor had been affected by the fire, again, it smelled heavily of gasoline and burnt flesh. Rey was correct in assuming that the end of the note would say something like ‘Are you sure you want to go against a god of Justice?’ but that wasn’t the end of it. There was no corpse in sight, just the politician’s undamaged clothes sitting atop a pile of soot and ash. The note had been to the lapel of the man’s two piece, but there was something else written on it. It was written in French this time. Not German. Kylo picked the note up and read aloud.

“Are you sure that you want to go against a God of Justice? When they have to, they are quite vengeful, Mr. Ren.” He stopped reading, but it was easy to see that there was more.

“Let me see that,” Rey grabbed it from him. The writing was neat, orderly, not at all like the chicken scratch that she had seen on the note before. Another killer? Maybe, or maybe this time the mastermind behind it all was writing it herself. The writing seemed familiar. She’d definitely seen it before, she knew that much. The rest of the note read, “I have eyes everywhere. I’m watching you, Rey Kenobi.” Rey was tempted to laugh. “Well, it seems that whoever our killer is knows that I started investigating this case alongside Kylo, but how? I only just started today.”

“Yes, that seemed rather odd.” Kylo said. “There’s not been enough time for a mole to go alert the killer of the developments in the investigation, Finn have you investigated your men like I told you to?”

The Chief Superintendent shifted a little uncomfortably. “Yes, I did, and like I told you, they’re all faithful.” Rey didn’t say anything, hoping that Kylo would notice his small tells himself but it seemed he didn’t. _Disappointing._ She shook the thought out of her head, she may have just been second guessing his motives since she’d only met him once.

_“Someone must have seen me move in with you and told the killer, they most likely assumed that I was helping you on this case and they would be correct in that.”_

* * *

 

Something wasn’t right. No corpse. Just the clothes. Presumably just something that the killer picked out of the man’s wardrobe. The note. The note was the most confusing part. He was fairly sure that no one had been following the two of them home that night he brought her home from the police station, although to be fair the fog of the night in Coruscant was always thick and it was easy to hide in the shadows undetected… Still…

He thought about this most of the way home, and even went upstairs with Rey before he realized that she was talking to him. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past hour, Mr. Ren. I know that you’re very wrapped up in figuring out how the killer got this information but I think you’re focusing too much on the fact that they have it, and trying to find out how they have it, rather than the actual task at hand. Where’s Allen Valkorion’s wife?” They entered his flat and Kylo sat down in the chair across from Rey. There was a log in the fire. His mother must have anticipated the two of them coming home.

“And why should you say that we should focus on the wife?”

“Because if she’s still alive she may have some connection to the killer? Isn’t that obvious?” _Right. Yes._

“Where do you think a woman who’d just killed her husband would be?”

“Probably at the bank, asking for all the money in his account to be transferred to hers.” The girl laughed a little, Rey’s dark sense of humor caught him off guard, but only for a second. “All jokes aside, a woman who was smart enough to have someone hired to kill her husband would obviously be hiding, perhaps in an underground tavern or at a friend’s place. The thing is, Valkorion doesn’t have many friends after he put the other competitors in the steel industry out of business.” Rey was about to continue speaking when they heard a knock on the door. The both of them turned to see one of Rey’s friends standing in the doorway.

“Are we talking about murder?”

“Rose!” Rey got up from her seat excitedly and greeted her with a warm embrace. _Another one._ Kylo thought. Rose had the same look in her eyes that Rey did when the two of them first met, calculating and mischievous, but there was something different about her. Like she was putting a mask on. “Mr. Ren, this is Rose. Rose, Mr. Ren.”

“I’m sorry for the intrusion, Mr. Ren but I just wanted to make sure that Rey was okay after that deadly house fire and no one told me that you moved to the flat of a man you only just met.”

“Yes, you can go-” Before he could finish that sentence, Rey glowered, promptly shutting him up.

    “No, I should be sorry. I should have told you. Everything has just been going by so fast.” Kylo started to zone out of their conversation very quickly, staring into the fire as he thought of the notes that the killer had left. _Mr. Ren, did you know that Gods of Justice never have clean hands? I have eyes everywhere, I’m watching you Rey Kenobi._ It didn’t make sense. Move on, move on from the thing that doesn’t make sense at the moment. _The mastermind of these killings is a woman who’s most likely female who’s tired of being a housewife. Someone with a large fortune._ That could be anyone, but the most likely candidates? Rey or the missing wife of Allen Valkorion… _no, Rey wouldn’t kill people. If she wanted to get a political message across she would do something more intellectual than that._ So the missing wife of Allen Valkorion? Maybe. Kylo found it interesting that he’d never heard of the steel industry mogul’s wife before, but that may have worked out to the woman’s advantage. Still there was no real proof of her being the mastermind behind this or her being the one that even hired someone to kill her husband.

This was starting to get frustrating. 

“Well, I really must go, but I just wanted to say that you look amazing and we need to get together soon okay?” 

“Yes, certainly.” Rey agreed. With that Rose left, Rey moved across the room, grabbing her violin. 

“Were you going to continue what you were saying earlier?” Kylo prompted. Rey shook her head and grabbed her bow. 

“No, I eliminated the possibility of my hypothesis from my head. It was unlikely.” She was rather stiff. 

“Are you mad at me?” 

“You were rude,” she posed as if she was going to start playing. 

“I’m sorry but I don’t even know how she got in here, the door is not even open.” 

“She probably was let in by your mother,” She muttered, “or picked the lock, Rose has been known to do that.” 

“It was an invasion of privacy-” Rey began playing.  _ She usually played Bach, but this time it was something different all together. An original.  _ “-Rey,” Her violin got louder, almost passive aggressively loud. Kylo sat there. At least she wasn’t purposefully playing it bad. Her fingers were quite dexterous with the strings, the music gradually got softer and softer over the next half hour until Rey felt like she was done playing entirely and sat her violin carefully in the case he’d bought for her. She sat down again, yawning. “I won’t be rude to your friend again.” The girl raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. Now, there’s something on your mind. What is it?” 

“Mr. Valkorion’s wife.” Kylo said, “there maybe a chance that she’s one of the killers.” 


	4. Belladonna

“The missing wife is obviously the mastermind,” Rey said. “I’m glad that I’m not the only one who came to that conclusion because otherwise the only other conclusion would be _me.”_  She got up, yawning. “Now, I’m tired.”

“We’re not done.”

“I’m going to bed,”

“Rey,”

“You should too, your lack of sleep is probably the reason it took you so long to get to that conclusion.” With that she went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

* * *

 

 

“She’s right you know, you should sleep.” Kylo almost jumped out of his skin when his mother entered the flat. “Sorry, were you in the midst of something.” Kylo shook his head no, staring into the fire.

“Tea would do nicely right now.”

“I’m not enabling your bad sleeping pattern.” She said. “I just came up here to tell you that something arrived on your doorstep.” She handed him a letter that was marked by a red seal, but had no return address to let Kylo know who was sending it. He opened it haphazardly, not considering that he could’ve been sent something fatal like arsenic. Fortunately, he was sent no such thing. Instead he was sent something a little more intriguing. A petal from a flower and a note written in a variance of different languages.

“Mother, did you see who dropped this on the doorstep?”

“No. That’s the belladonna flower though.”

“Yes it seems so.” He sighed, placing the petal 0n the table next to him and reading the letter. It was written in French, German, and English and the person who wrote took the time to write it rather elegant cursive. The person was obviously right handed and again a woman. “Mother it would be best if you left now,” She did as told, mumbling something under her breath. Kylo rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the message in his hands.

The note read, _Dear Mr Ren, It is my job to inform you that my boss is rather amused with you meddling in their business, and they thought it rather adorable that you enlisted the help of Rey Kenobi, but they advise you that if you decide to go any further into this investigation, you will be on the losing side of the war. They are more cunning, more strategic, and more omnipotent than you could ever hope to be Mr. Ren. That being said, they do love a challenge, so I have been told to attach a few pieces of data that may help you in your investigation should you choose to proceed._ Kylo turned the note so he could look on the back of the paper, in faint handwriting were a few sets of data as the writer of the notice had promised. One was a coordinate that lead to a point in the Moors, possibly hinting that one of Rey’s earlier theories was worth taking a look at. Another was a place and a date. Outside on the steps of Parliament, two days from now. The next was a picture of a hound and the hour at 22 hundred hours.

 

* * *

 

“Why did you wait six hours to wake me up if you got a development in the case?” Rey had just finished making coffee for the both of them when he’d given her the letter to scan.

“You wanted to sleep, I let you sleep.” He sighed.

“Yes, that was when we were bickering about stupid things there was no developments in the case.” She told him. “But you have a development in the case now, don’t you?”

“Yes, now you know what would be more useful than you angrily telling me what I should ‘have done. Your opinion on the matter, Rey. That is what you want to be valued for right? Your smarts and not the awful cranky bickering that you’re inflicting on me this morning.” That shut her on for a second. It was such a backhanded compliment too. Admitting the fact that she was in fact valued for her intellect but saying that she was cranky. She sat down, sipping at her black coffee as she thought things through.

“Yours first, Mr. Ren, it’s only fair.” He raised an eyebrow, bemused by Rey’s demand.

“It’s obviously written by a right handed woman of great education. She knows multiple languages, mainly French, German, and English. Those are obviously the languages that are favored by her or her boss as she says in the letter. The belladonna a threat of death, as for the back, the coordinate to the Moors, the date is when the next crime is going to happen, and as for the hour and the dog I am not quite sure as to what that is. But the likelihood 0f it being the missing wife that wrote this message isn’t very high.”

“-Because the mistress that wrote it is right handed and the lady that we’re looking for is left handed-”

“-Yes, she is most certainly left handed. It was easy to tell from some of the things that were still in tact from the fire, the cups on the table in the room next to us were all to the left. Meaning the lady and her husband had both been left handed people. That can also be further confirmed by the burnt knitting materials that sat to the left of her chair by a window and the book to the left on her mantelpiece.”

“So who do you suggest we’re looking for this time?”

“Possibly someone that you may know, Rey. Someone of great intelligence who’s rather cunning but still a follower in some senses, someone that’s also involved with campaign for women’s votes.” Rey leaned back in her seat. She knew that Kylo was trying to elicit some sort of response out of her, something like a ‘ _I wouldn’t out any of my friends for murdering or being associated with a murderer.’_ that may let him know that she thought one of her friends did have a possibility of being associated with the murders. She wasn’t going to let any of that happen.

“I know a lot of women, Mr. Ren. Yet none of them are exactly followers.  Ones who believe in such insane things as freedom and suffrage often tend to not go with the masses if you know what I mean.”

“Yes, which is possibly why you and I would be considered social outcasts. More, I would. You’re too civil with other people to really be considered an outcast now aren’t you?”

“It does take a great deal to be as civil as I am with some people,” She laughed. “But anyways, that’s besides the point.” She took another sip of her coffee. “None of my friends would be the murderer or associated with the murder, Mr. Ren. If they had been I would’ve figured it out by now and they would’ve ended up in police custody by this time.”

“Not even that friend that came here yesterday night, what was her name? Rose?”

“Rose wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Yes, I thought so. Just checking because you are a better judge of character since you know the girl.” It seemed her hadn’t been entirely convinced by this.  

There wasn’t much else Rey could do though, none of them were the murderer in this case, and she knew that if they were to start being investigated it would take time off of the actual matter at hand, and that would be exactly what the killer wanted.

“Besides, if it was her writing this letter I would have been able to tell you that this is her handwriting, which it is in fact, not her handwriting. She is right handed but she’s less worried with being so fanciful and classy and more with relaying the information that she has with her.” Kylo nodded. This must have been a more acceptable explanation. “As for the things on the back of the note, let me see it again.” Rey took the note from Kylo, examining it closer. The note on the back was written in different handwriting. This time a male’s handwriting. Probably to keep them from pinpointing it down to two people.

The first part of the clue that was given was a coordinate she knew quite well. Several of her late husband’s more unsavory clients had been found out to hide bodies there in the night time, the place and the date was on the steps of parliament when a speech against women’s voting was taking place. That would obviously be the next victim. The last was the picture of the hound and the military hour of 22 hundred hours. She tried to think of what the hound could mean. The hound meant loyalty, protection and luck to the Celts, but that would not mean what the author of this note meant obviously.   _No this is something else entirely, perhaps drawing from a more cynical mythology like the Greeks or the Norse or the Egyptians._ The Greeks used the image of the hound as the guardian of the dead, but that didn’t make much sense considering the person killing these people was doing it by maiming and immolation, two of the most brutal ways to kill people in existence. No, this was a bloodhound. The police used bloodhounds to track down evidence, meaning the hound could symbolize both truth and death.

There was going to be a death at ten P.M. Rey didn’t know when or where, but it would be at ten P.M. “The last part of the note says that there is going to be a death at ten p.m. but it’s very vague as to who or where. Perhaps it’ll be at the Moors, but it’s definitely not going to be at Parliament, no one gives a speech at ten o’clock at night.”

“I’ll send a telegram to the police.”

“Don’t bother,” Finn came through the door.

“You should really start locking that thing,” Rey said.

“Or he should learn to knock,” Kylo suggested.

“There was a body found at the Moors, it seems like Miss Kenobi’s suggestion to look there paid off.”

“Was it the wife or someone else?” Rey asked.

“Someone else,” The Chief Superintendent said. Rey nodded.  She was glad that she had had the foresight to get dressed early so the three could go out the door, Kylo hurriedly explaining the contents of the note to the Chief Superintendent.  

When they’d quieted down in the carriage, Finn turned to Rey and asked her.

“How did you know that the Moors is a good place to dump bodies?” She raised an eyebrow, looking out on the streets that passed by them as they rode to the Moors. “I asked you a question.”

“I know, but maybe if you did your job more you would figure out that people tend to dump them there because it’s far out from the city and the waters can strip away any evidence that was left on the body that the killer may have left. What I’m trying to figure out is why the Moors it’s not there M.O.”

“You said to check the Moors yesterday though,”

“I didn’t think you would actually find anything though.” She admitted. “They’ve all been killed in house fires or by blunt force before, out in the open to set an example for everyone else. They are killing for justice aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Kylo said, “but that’s only part of it. They want us to think that they are killing for justice, in fact the killer may think that they are killing for justice, but by the tone of their letters they are challenging us, eliciting a _what are you going to do about it_ sort of attitude from their killings, meaning that they’re doing it because they know they can and they want to challenge us. Boredom masked with a sense of morals. What a proper psychopath they are.” 

Rey almost laughed.

“Careful, Mr. Ren. They have eyes everywhere.” The two of them started giggling, much to Finn’s chagrin.

“Are you two laughing about a serial killer? That’s bloody improper.” Kylo rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath about the Chief Superintendent not being any fun. Rey smiled, looking back out the window and watching the city get further and further away. “I’m serious. People are dying.”

“Chief, do you think that either of us care about being proper? I am a woman investigating murders and well, Kylo is a social outcast who’s solving crimes to keep his crippling boredom. I think you should be less concerned with how proper we are and more concerned with how we are going to solve this case.” That was a question that had yet to be answered. How were they going to solve this case when there was virtually no evidence to go off of?

“You’re stressing over nothing, Rey. We’ll solve it.”

“And what makes you so sure?”

“Serial killers often feel the need to be recognised. It’s why most of them are caught in the end and this one will be no different. That’s become more apparent from them starting to enclose these clues with their messages.” Rey hoped he was right, but she couldn’t stop herself from thinking maybe they wouldn’t catch her. Maybe the killer would get smart and would use their extremely similar description to frame Rey for the murders. She shouldn’t think about that right now. Right now focus on the task at hand.

* * *

 

The Moors weren’t that far away from the city. Rey gently reminded him it had only been about an hour since they got in the carriage and the average ride out to the Moors was about an hour and thirty nine minutes. Kylo gently reminded her that he knew what time it was and the coachman could still manage to go faster. 

Rey and Finn were probably very relieved when they got out of the carriage and started heading in the direction of the corpse they were to examine. Kylo had a distinct feeling that there was someone watching them. That wouldn’t necessarily far fetched considering the fact that the Moors were a vast and dismal place, mostly lined by trees and tall grasses. 

The grey skies and fog only added to the possibility that someone was in fact watching them. Kylo tried to ignore this and stared down at the creekbed where the body was found. Without thinking, he held his hand out for Rey to take. The small bit of uneven rock they had to walk over they had to walk over was drastic enough of a drop that it would be hard to manage in a dress. Rey accepted his hand gratefully.

Rey made a face as she looked down at the corpse below them, and Kylo could soon see why…  _ rather… smell why.  _ It didn’t just smell like the regular burnt carrion that came from the corpses of this particular killer, it smelled like the victim had soiled themselves before death. “Breathe in and out through your mouth,” He advised her, “you don’t want to ruin crime scene evidence.” 

“Right.” She said. “You make it sound so easy.” They got closer to the body and Kylo began to see the cause of death more clearly. The victim was female with very bad burns and lacerations all over the visible parts of her body. Thoughts started racing through his head. Was this the wife? It couldn’t be, could it? The theory had seemed the most likely but this would untie everything if it was. He bent down to try and find a single shred of evidence that he could use but the creek had stripped away anything that had remained. It was clear that she had been dressed post mortem in men’s clothing so she was harder to identify. Most of the lacerations were on her hands and neck, suggesting she had been tied down, and struggling. 

“Well that puts the theory of the wife being the killer to rest,” Finn said. Rey looked like she was about to cry. 

“No it doesn’t,” She told the man, “That’s not Ms. Valkorion. That’s Jyn Erso.”

* * *

 

“That’s one of your friends,” Kylo stated blankly. Rey nods, trying to swallow her anger in her throat and calm down. 

“Yes,” She said. “I would never forget that face.” Although a lot of the girl’s features were very badly burnt, she still could recognize that elegant bone structure anywhere. 

Kylo grimaced. “Get her out of here, she doesn’t need to see-” Finn tried to move over to comfort her and help her back up the hill, but Rey shrugged him off. 

“She’s been dead enough time for rigor mortis to take place, when was the body found?” Her voice was sharp, cutting through the air like a knife. 

“Her body was found approximately five o’clock this morning.” 

“Which means that she’s been dead for at least two to six hours. The note said ten o’clock, this is what it meant. Jyn Erso died around ten o’clock, at least by what the note would have us believe.” She leaned over to take a whiff of the scent coming off of her body, trying to forget that this was Jyn. The girl that offered shelter to Rey and Rose after-  _ no, that was the past. We must focus on the present, the past is not what we are,  _ she thought to herself. “The burns she sustained were not due to gasoline or uncontrolled fire, they were completely intentional.” She closed her eyes, thinking. 

“Rey-”

“-The burns were likely inflicted upon her while she was tied down, meaning she suffered for hours. The killer didn't send a note with her body spouting the utter nonsense about them being a god of justice because this was a kill that wasn’t in the name of justice. It sends the message that they aren’t afraid to kill innocents, you can tell that to the press the next time you have a conference about that at Scotland Yard.” She had not realized that her hands had been trembling so much until Kylo’s hand had brushed against hers lightly, and Rey balled her hands into fists instead.  _ Think, think, think.  _ Her brain was working at a speed that was almost painful. She needed to solve this. It was personal now.  She turned to Kylo, her eyes pleading for something. Something in his face or his words that would give her more ammunition to push herself further. 

“She died somewhere else but not far off from here. The person dressed her in the place where she was killed, you can tell that the killer dressed her in the place where she died and didn’t take much care in disposing of her either. There’s grass burns on her clothes which indicate the fact that she’s been dragged by someone who didn’t really care about tossing her over their shoulder.” She stared at Jyn, looking at how she was positioned, each hand by her side, hands clenched up into fists. Gingerly, she bent over and tried opening them. They were both almost impossible to pry open. It wasn’t until something broke that her left hand opened freely. Rey felt like she was going to throw up. There was a note. A small note, in Jyn’s handwriting. Unfinished with one word. Blonde. Rey picked up the note and handed it to Kylo. 

“The killer was blonde,” He said. “She was trying to described her killer.” the note smelled of iron and the previous cuts on her hand let Rey know that Jyn was trying to write a note in her own blood. Rey shook the thought from her head and walked over to the other side of the girl’s corpse, in the brush, it was hard to notice, but there was ever so faint impressions of footprints. Most likely recent, some of them easily could have been the investigators that were already on the scene, but there were also footprints of another kind there. A dog’s footprint. Or rather a hound’s. It could have been nothing, it could have been silly and Rey could have been grasping at straws, desperate to find one of her friend’s killers, but she found more, and followed them. Forgetting to explain to Kylo and Finn what she had f0und. She knew where she was going, where she was running. Somewhere along the way her wretched shoes came off and she was speeding along the countryside and towards the trees, off in the distance she could just make out the mezzanine of an  old house. It bore an almost uncanny resemblance to the orphanage she had once been in. 

Miserable, but with an adequate enough looking garden. She didn’t think about the people shouting after her to slow down and explain what was going on, the door was open and she invited herself in. The inside of the house was almost completely empty except for a few things. A chair in the living room, that was mostly bare bones now, burnt at the seat, the remains of a rope, and some blood. Kylo and Finn caught up with her, both of them panting and asking a million questions. “Shut up, the both of you!” She shouted. “Some people are trying to solve a kriffing murder.” Her eyes widened, nostrils flaring as she turned promptly into the murder room, closing the door and locking it before either Kylo or Finn could get in. 

“Rey-”

“You will be allowed in here to make your deductions after I get a little peace and quiet, Mr. Ren, but until then you will be forced to know the feeling of a woman when she is left out from  _ men’s business. _ ” She hissed. That promptly shut the both of them up as she got a chance to look at the room by herself. Everything basically reinforced what she had said earlier about Jyn, but none of it made it easier to narrow it down. Narrow it down.

She closed her eyes once again, but this time it was different. Jyn was in the chair that she was standing in front of, hypothetically at least. Her nails digging into the wooden rests that her wrists were tied to, “Why are you doing this?” 

“For a cause,” The hypothetical killer said. Rey watched the scene unfold out before her eyes, knowing she could do nothing but figure out who committed this heinous act. The killer was tall, at least six feet tall and was in fact female and from this region. A blonde with enough strength to kidnap a girl who had considerable knowledge of martial arts. 

“For a cause? What is a cause that needs this needless violence?”

“You wouldn’t understand, would you? Your mind is not like mine. Not like your friend.” Jyn twisted her hand again, pulling out a small file that wasn’t very easy to see by the naked eye, cutting the inside of her hand so she could write the note. 

“I thought she was our friend.” Rey jolted. 

No. 

“Right, excuse me. Our friend.”  _ The second killer was more passionate, stronger, more agile but not smart enough to consider herself a real leader, she would have to be tired of the status quo, wanting to change it, lackadaisical enough to be capable of killing someone they knew and disposing it in a way that they knew that Rey would find. A way disturbing enough to get her attention. Yet they weren’t able to bring themselves to kill the one that was the absolute closest to her. “The arsonist case?” No, no, no, no. “Right as ever, Phasma.”   _ Rey didn’t want to believe it. Blonde. Blonde. A lot of people could be blonde, couldn’t they? But not so many people were six foot tall and had the physique to kill someone with blunt trauma or kidnap them, “It’s come to my realization that her heart may be in the right place, but her head really isn’t. She is stuck in her hypocritical morals.” 

“Everyone changes, they aren’t hypocritical, they are right. This isn’t the way.” Phasma grimaced, and for the first time Rey saw the makeshift torch in her hand, she began lowering it down to Jyn’s skin-

“Rey!” She jolted out of her thought process and opened the door. 

“I’m done here.” Both Kylo and Finn looked at each other, probably thinking that this was the actions of a girl who was trying to put grief aside, but still dealing with a great bit of depression, but that wasn’t it at all.

There was something inside of Rey, something venomous that had been dormant for so long that sparked again. “I know who her killer is."


	5. Ten of Swords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ten of Swords symbolizes betrayal.

They knew who the second killer was.

The stage was set.

The curtain drawn.

Now it was time for everything to unfold. Per his instruction, Phasma was not to be arrested. Not quite yet. Once caught, she could just so easily take some arsenic when she was being interrogated. They were going to manipulate her to find her employer first. But before that could happen there was a more important task at hand.

_Rey._

When they had gotten home, she broke. It was slowly, but once it happened, it was heartbreaking. Her teeth had been clenched the whole way home. She seemed to be biting down on her tongue. Kylo was sure at some point she must’ve drawn blood. When they got into the privacy of his flat, it seemed like a switch went off. Rey made a sound, the only thing Kylo would compare it to being the sound of a dying animal’s pleas for mercy. With a sudden jerk of motion, she grabbed her violin by the end, swiping it down like a cleaver. There was a deafening _crack_ as the instrument was destroyed.

The short outburst of rage reminded Kylo of himself when he was a teenager. Desperate and lost. He watched as Rey choked back tears, looking at the remnants of her violin. “Oh god,” He stepped over them. Bringing her into a hug. She let it happen, but didn't hug him back. “ _That was hers,”_

“Ssh,”

“It's not okay,”

“I know,” her body shuddered as she let out a hefty sob that Kylo thought she had been holding in for hours.

“I broke-” Rey peeled away from him, trying to bend over so she could clean up the mess that she made.

“Don't worry about that right now. I'll go take it to a shop and have it repaired for you, okay?” She nodded, and Kylo moved her to the couch, grabbing a blanket and draping it over her shoulders. “It'll all be okay,”

* * *

 

_At some place, stowed away from the rest of society, there was a home cozier than Rey had ever been in. It was now cold and destitute, but it would be remembered well. There would be a few candles burning throughout the house, a small but healthy number of books, and a violin perched by the window cill. For a time, there used to be three girls there. Two that were too scared to be out in the sunlight with the rest of humanity, guilt clouding their judgements and making them fearful of other men. The third stood by the window, playing the violin._

_“That’s very beautiful?”_

_“Thank you,” Jyn said. “Come out here, if you like I can teach you.” Tentatively, the girl came out into the parlor. “You know, I think that is the first time I’ve heard you speak, you have such a lovely voice. You should speak more often.”_

_Rey smiled, for the first time in what seemed like forever. “Thank you.”_

_“You’re welcome, now here’s how you grip your violin, yes good, and the bow just like that. I can tell you’re already going to be a natural.”_

* * *

 

Silence.

    Silence was the bane of existence. At least, it was in Rey’s mind. It plagued her every waking minute. She stayed out in the living room where she watched the flames dance back and forth in the fireplace. _Phasma was the second killer. Of course she was, Rey couldn’t believe she was stupid enough to not even suspect one of her friends being the second killer._ The question was, how the catch this woman. As with most friends, Phasma and Rey had a long history with each other. Enough for Rey to know that Phasma was skilled enough with identity forgery and disguise to fool even her for a time. Rey wished that she was heartless, that she didn’t have friends so that she didn’t get herself into this situation in the first place.

    She couldn’t think.

    She couldn’t breathe.

    The girl felt like she was going to choke on air as she tried to motivate the wheels in her head to turn. “You should go to bed,” Kylo told her. Rey ignored him. “Rey, you’ve had a long day. You need to go to bed.”

    “Shut up,” She yelled. He did. Part of her felt bad for taking it out on him, but she was too tired to apologize or exert herself more than she already had. She kept replaying Jyn’s death in her mind, and remembering things that she had pushed back into the very depths of her mind.

* * *

 

    _Everything was cramped, but Rey and Rose stayed hidden. There were dogs and policemen up above searching the place, and the both of them had to stay quiet. Rose looked like she was about to faint, and Rey had to keep the girl’s mouth shut so that their breathing wouldn’t alert anyone. If they moved or anything changed their position would be given away and they would be taken away, probably sentenced to death for their crimes._

_The two of them stayed like that for hours upon hours, and it seemed like the day would never start anew. That’s when three knocks came out the door._

_“Girls, the coast is clear. They left, it’s okay for you to come up not.” Jyn hurried them up and Rose nearly tripped on the ladder leading up from the basement. “I made food for the both of you, stay here and I’ll go get it okay.”_

_Rey stopped her. “Do you think they’ll come back?” She asked._

_“Only if I give them reason to suspect that I am harboring fugitives,” Jyn admitted. “But it will be okay, I promise.”_

_“What if they hurt you?”  Rose asked. “What if you don’t come back?”_

_“Well then,” She pursed her lips. “I’m glad to see that you two care about me, but I will be fine. No matter what.” Rey could still see the fear in her eyes. She knew that she was falsely reassuring herself._

_“Don’t lie, if you die then we’ll be left without shelter or a place to stay. What’s even more likely to happen is that if you die, you’ll be left as an example, a martyr.”_

_“Even then, I’m sure it would be okay. Because if I die, Rey, I’m sure you would be able to solve the case. You just have to think as hard as you can, do not let your emotions get in the way and you’ll be successful.”_

_“Are you sure?”_

_“Yes, I am. But let’s stop talking about such morbid things, I’ll go get your dinner.”_

* * *

 

    Kylo had been up for hours, and Rey was still in the same spot, staring into the fire. She had not cried anymore, she didn’t so much as blink half of the time. Leia had come in to serve them some food and tea, but Rey drank none and ate none. “What’s wrong with her?” His mother asked.

    “She’s grieving,” Kylo responded, “Intensely.” 

Leia nodded understandingly.

“She needs to go to sleep, poor thing. She’s going to make herself sick like that.”

“I already told her that, mother. She yelled at me and told me to shut up.” His voice was more acidic than he intended it to be. He could tell by the way his mother rolled his eyes at him when he told her this.

“Oh did you get your feelings hurt? Like you said, the girl is grieving, and you and I both know that you are not exactly the best at emotionally consoling someone. Especially if they are a woman.” She was right, still something about what his mother said stung a bit. Kylo wanted to help Rey, make her feel better, but there was still so much he didn’t know about her.

They had only lived together for a few weeks, despite it feeling so much longer than that, and Rey was secretive. All he knew about her was that she read massive amounts of books, and played the vi0lin with finesse. “Listen, maybe she just wants some peace and quiet. You should get to sleep, though.” He didn’t respond as she left the flat.

He crouched down in front of where Rey was sitting, it was like she didn’t even register the fact that he was there. Kylo had never seen someone go completely catatonic like that before. He was sure that it had something to do with stress, but she had been fully respondent just a few hours ago. Kylo was starting to worry about her. Still, he wasn’t sure what to do. It would be impolite of him to touch her or shake her, that would cause her to be startled. “Rey,” He whispered. She blinked a little, her eyes moving to Kylo’s. “Are you hungry?” He asked. She nodded, and he brought her one of the snacks his mother had left on a tray for the both of them. She took it in her hand and ate it. When she was done, Kylo said, “Listen, we’re going to find Phasma, but I need you to get some rest, and we need to start fresh in the morning.”

* * *

 

“I appreciate your concern,” She said, “but I am not tired.” He wouldn’t understand. Kylo Ren was not the type of person who had friends. No one to lose except for his mother. Even then, Rey wasn’t sure that he even cared about his mother, or if he cared about her at all for that matter. She kept imagining a scenario in her head where she would meet up with Phasma and somehow get her to confess.

It would go something like, _“You know why you’re really here, don’t you?”_

_“Yes, I do.” She would say calmly. “You know you’re not very good at hiding your emotions. You knew it was me.”_

_“Why?”_

_“You know that too,”_

_“She was our friend,” Rey would hiss, trying her best to keep her voice even._

_“No,” Phasma would correct her and say that Phasma was not in fact, any friend of Jyn Erso’s. She merely tolerated her because Rose and Rey were constantly with her too, therefore she had no loyalty to the girl before she killed her. And then she would try to recruit Rey with some sort of line that she would feed everyone. Rey wouldn’t buy it. She did have a higher intellect than most people that were recruited to the low ranks in a criminal organization._

“You know, I know when someone lies about something Rey.” Kylo said.

“Oh?”

“You’ve lied about a lot in the past few weeks you’ve been here. I’ve never pressed for answers, because it’s none of my business-”

“-exactly, it’s none of your business.” She told him. “Which is why you should just let me be.” Kylo sat down in the chair across from her, seemingly satisfied with the fact that he had gotten a rise out of her. She bit her lip, something in her burning at the fact that he’d been successful in making her talk again.

“Nope, I do not think I will do that.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I’m very annoying and I getting under your skin gives me satisfaction.” He states. “And I know that if it were the other way around, you would do the exact same thing to me.” She rolled her eyes. “So listen, if you are not going to go sleep we are going to talk and you are going to be completely transparent with me. Do you have that?”

She cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out what he was playing at. She had nothing at the moment. “Fine, I guess. I have nothing better to do at the moment.”

“What is your connection with Jyn Erso?” He asked.

“That is a rather loaded question,” She laughed, but she wasn’t quite sure why.

“Just answer it, please.”

“Just answer it, please.” She mocked him. Knowing full well that he was trying to distract her. She played right into his hands, as usual. “You don’t seem to understand it do you, Mr. Ren. Some things are harder to explain than just a simple answer. A connection to someone is something hard enough to explain, but when you lose that connect to someone, it’s impossible.” Rey regretted saying that. It was so heated. So passionate that it almost made her feel dirty in a way. “Jyn was my friend, the second friend I ever had in fact. I met her when I was about sixteen and a half, she wasn’t smart, but she was kind and she was full of hope. She was always so full of hope and she encouraged me, even when most people did not.”

“Where did you meet her?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because, I am trying to figure out, why _Jyn,_ why not Rose?” Rey couldn’t think about that right now. She shut it out of her mind, deleted the thought entirely.

“Just stop it okay.” He was silent for a minute, before apologizing. Rey shrugged. “I met Jyn in the countryside,” She said, she knew that she must choose her words carefully. These memories always lead to destruction, which is why she never said a thing. “It was quiet, but being with her offered freedom. That’s not something that I had had as a child, so I took it instantly. I think she liked having a friend with her. Even though I wasn’t always the best person to be around. I was… quite the handful as a child.”

“Still are-”

“Hey-”

“-so you were an orphan,”

“Yes,”

“Were you originally at an orphanage or did you run away from home?”

“Run away from home,” She lied. Rey closed her eyes.

“Understandable,” Kylo said.

“Why does everything have to be understandable?” Rey hissed. “Can’t we just accept that it isn’t understandable?” Her breath hitched as she tried her best to keep the burning that was coming up from her stomach and making her head and heart ache at bay. _You have to control the pain._ She told herself.

“You’re right, not everything is understandable.” Kylo told her. “Some things are more painful than others, and not everything can be solved with a deduction. I wish it could.”

“Well you’re not alone there,” She said. “If everything were solvable by a deduction I would have achieved world peace by now.”

He smirked. “World peace is boring, at least this way we have something to do.”

“I guess we should be grateful for that, but still-” She cut herself off as her train of thought went elsewhere. “Thank you for talking to me, you’re not that annoying.” Kylo made a gesture to signal him being shocked.

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to be.”

“If you don’t stop making that face I am going to take it back.” The both of them giggled, and Rey smiled. _God, this is stupid._ She felt so tired. “I think I’m going to bed, okay?”

“Good.” He said. “You need it.” She nodded and they went into their bedrooms. Both exhausted from a day that had felt like it lasted forever.

* * *

 

The next day came and for a while, neither Rey or Kylo had gotten up. Rey walked into the living room to see the Chief Superintendent out of uniform, waiting there patiently. She let out a yelp, not being properly dressed in the slightest. “Kriffing hell-”

    “Sorry-” Finn blushed, putting his hand over his eyes. Rey rolled her eyes.

    “Why are you here in our flat, and why the bloody hell didn’t you knock?”

    “His mother let me in and told me to wait upstairs, I usually do that but I forgot that you live here too.” She calmed down, knocking on Kylo’s door, only to hear a groan from the other side. Finn looked alarmed from behind his hand.

    “It’s okay, you can take your hand down, I’m just in a nightgown. It would be a different thing if I was completely naked.” He scoffed at this, and Rey wasn’t sure if she should be offended or impressed with the fact that he was such a virtuous man. She sat down across from him. “It just hit me that you and I have never talked a lot.” There was an awkward silence between the two of them before Rey said, “You’re off duty aren’t you?”

    “Yes, Miss.” He nodded.

    “And you wanted to speak to Kylo?” He nodded again. “I’m just as good. Is there a new development to the investigation?”

    “I think it best that I tell you when you are both in the room, I know that you may have plans coming up with the upcoming date, and well- I just need to wait until Mr. Ren is out here so I can tell the both of you.” He looked so nervous. Rey wondered what was happening. It seemed like forever for Kylo to finally wake up, and by that time Rey was properly dressed and serving Finn tea. His eyes were unfocused, long black hair a mess on his head. “You look ravishing.” Rey said sarcastically. Kylo rolled his eyes and yawned.

“No tea for me?” He asked as he sat down in his seat.

“Make your own,”

“No time, anyways, spit it out Finn.”

“I need to tell you that I am considering recusing myself from this case.” Rey almost choked. That was something she did not expect. _Why in the kriffing hell would he try to do that?_ “You see… you two have been asking who the mole is… in the police force… the truth is… I am the mole.” Then again, there were many times that she did not expect something and it still happened.

These past few days had been a big whirlwind of things that she could not expect. 

She found herself looking back on the times where Finn seemed suspiciously nervous when he had no reason to be, and now she understood.

Kylo’s hands were gripping the ends of his armrests, knuckles white, he seemed to be restraining himself. Rey spoke, because otherwise Kylo might’ve done something very stupid, “Chief Superintendent you will keep investigating this case.”

“What?”

“What-”

“You will keep investigating this case, and you will report to us after you have met with whomever you feed information to.” Rey said. “Thank you for coming to us with this information, though. It does definitely help with the investigation. Let’s make something clear though, you will not tell anyone you had this meeting us, or anything either of us said to you, okay?” He nodded. “I need you to tell us who you meet with, and if you know the identity of the person who has set all this up.”

“I meet with a third party,” He said, “They came to my door one night threatening to-”

“Out the fact that you’re a homosexual?” Kylo said aloud. Rey slapped him.

“Yes,”

“I mean there is nothing wrong with that. Rey why did you slap me?”

“Yes, there’s nothing wrong with that but that was quite rude. He could get put in an institution for that.”

“Or he could be hung for consorting with a party of murderers, which one seems preferable?”

“Neither,”

“For all we know he may be the reason Jyn is dead.” That stung just a little, but Rey ignored it, mumbling something about him needing coffee.

“I did not know about your friend,” Finn told her. His hands were shaking. “My condolences.” She shook her head.

“It was not your fault.” She said quietly. “It wasn’t any of our faults. Now, before you were so _rudely_ interrupted, you were telling me they know where you live. Do you have a suitor? Do you know if they have his location too?”

“No, I’m not sure. All I know is they know where I live, and they know where you live.” Rey nodded. “They never showed me any of their faces, they were all wearing bride’s dresses, a veil covering their face, but a lot of them were blackened by soot and dirt, like they were badly burnt. I never opposed women getting their rights I-” he closed his mouth, losing his train of thought, perhaps fear had momentarily consumed him.

“You’ll be okay.” Rey assured him. “Just do as we say, and report back to us with information from your meetings with this third party, okay?” He nodded. “And now, for tomorrow.” She was starting to formulate a plan in her head, a plan that could take advantage of Finn giving the killer information. “I have a plan, and I’m going to need you for it.”

* * *

 

The streets were eerily silent for a Saturday afternoon, when people were usually bustling about the street and shops. The melodic sound of a violin, accompanied with a cello, drifted through the air, creating a sense of doom to the few that were out and about. It was colder, the air filled with that London fog. One lone bride steps out of the mist with a sign in her hand, _When will we have our freedom?_ It says. She is alone, but only for a few seconds. Another bride joins, her veil tarnished by the years of abuse and betrayal wrought on her by her husband. And then a third. _We are silent, but we may not be ignored._ The cello gets louder, playing against the violin. People seem to be lining the street all the sudden, watching brides pour out of houses, alleyways, and shops. Lining up one by one, without saying a word. No one says a thing. No one is brave enough to approach them. A few men and women scoff at them, a few small girls stare at them in awe. _Suffrage for all, or life for none._  

Kylo looked out the window in his apartment. “Are you sure they’ll be heading towards where Rey said they would be heading towards?” Leia asked. Kylo nodded, and turned back to his mother. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” He said, getting up promptly. “You?” She nodded. They both went their separate ways in the crowd. Both Rey and Kylo had worked this out, but neither were sure if it would work. Rey and Finn needed to hold up their end of the bargain.

_God… if they didn't… someone would end up dead._

* * *

 

Rey knew exactly what she was doing, she told herself. She was here, watching a politician, Finn right next to her. Political speeches were often very boring to Rey, except when they pertained to this issue. She knew that she shouldn’t get mad about someone’s opinion. But when that someone was a politician in charge of making laws that limited people’s freedom. She couldn’t help herself.

“Do you really think that this is going to work?” The ominous song of a violin drifted through the air,  it sounded of something from a piece of literature Rey remembered. She couldn’t quite put her tongue on the name of the literature, but she remembered the song.   _Berlioz's March to the Scaffold._ It already sounded ominous enough with the full instrumental. But somehow the solo violin made it more so. Made it more familiar to Rey. She shook her head.

“This is going to work,” Brides were lining the street already, and Rey knew that one of them was going to be Phasma, she did love to watch things burn after all. The air smelled of gasoline and dirty, sweaty people, all hanging on the politician’s every word, but some of them were like her. Curious as to why a violin was playing a death song somewhere far off. Curious as to why a variety of veiled suffragettes were waiting around the cloud like millions of Grim Reapers waiting for the death of Thrawn, the latest politician to speak out. “It has to,” As if on cue, his podium burst into flames, letting out a large mushroom of flame and smoke.

There was screaming, and Rey watched silently as Thrawn flailed around, for what seemed like eternity. They tried to get the flame extinguished on him. But it was already too late. People were shouting, fleeing, and the women were starting to move all about the place, creating confusion. Rey heard talk of witches, of magic being the thing that set these men ablaze. She wanted to laugh at the foolishness of the masses.  She froze when she felt the cold metal of a pistol at her back. “Walk quietly and naturally, the both of you.”

Here she was. Rey wanted to laugh. Both Finn and Rey had stood in the easiest place for Phasma to see them in a crowd, and for a reason. They started to walk, Rey thinking of what was going to happen at the moment. If Kylo had followed everything right, he should have been there before either of them. And Leia, she would be amongst the crowd, watching for a certain direction, and to see if there was anyone leading them. Rey didn’t expect there to be such a large turnout of women, that only meant that the mastermind of the killings flexing, showing how many people could very well be guilty of these killings. Again, they thought of these killings as justice, so was it really bad to be guilty of these crimes when they were for the right cause? They walked away from the crowds, and the sound of _Berlioz’s March of the Scaffold_ faded into the distance. Rey looked down at Finn’s holster, quickly locating his pistol. “Don’t try it, Rey. I’ll shoot you before you even get the chance to move.” She said calmly.

“Despite what you think, Phasma, I am not stupid.” Rey spat. “You’re taller, stronger, and-” She looked back just enough to get a glimpse of the woman, who was wearing men’s clothing and a cloth around her mouth to hide her identity. “-you’re wearing something that provides much more mobility than I am afforded. So why would I ever try to hurt you?” The venom in her voice was sparing no mercy today.

“Move this way,” She said. She pointed to a dark entrance down to the sewers down below.

“How do you expect me to get down there?” Rey said. “My clothing isn’t exactly… fit for going down into a sewer for you to murder the both of us.”

“Rey-” Finn hissed. “Don’t anger her.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “You must forgive me, but this is not the first time I have nearly been murdered.” She said. “It will be fine.”

* * *

 

Sewers were not where Kylo Ren wanted to spend his time on a Saturday. Yet, Rey was so sure of this, so Kylo followed her orders. He was not disappointed. Not far off, he could hear talking. “You won’t understand.”

“Why? Because I do not condone murder. Oh, yes. Sorry about that.” Kylo felt the knife in his hand, gripping the handle tightly.

“You are so set in your morals, if only I could persuade you otherwise, then we could work together. It would be brilliant.” He set down the camera he had just purchased before getting to the sewers down as someone from the other end turned a flashlight on.

“Right, can we just get on with the murder now?’ They were close enough. The flash went off, almost loud enough to emulate a silenced gunshot. That’s when chaos erupted.

All they needed was a picture, Kylo had the paper and it would be developed later. “What is the meaning of this?” Phasma shouted. Rey said nothing, getting ready for the inevitable fight. She was ready.

“You were outsmarted,” Kylo said.

“Surrender now,” Finn told her. “You will be afforded your rights as long as you cooperated.” rey rolled her eyes, knowing what was going to happen. Phasma dropped the flashlight, lunging forwards at Rey, one hand knotted in her hair, and the other hand at her throat. The girl choked as she was slammed the ground, and then kicked, twice. Rey rolled, grabbing her leg and bringing her down to her level. The two of them scrambled for a second, before Phasma ended up on top of Rey again. “Why?” was all the girl was able to choke out. Feeling Phasma’s rough hands on her neck.

“I have already told you,” She said. Rey could feel her vision start to tunnel, when suddenly, Phasma’s hands were ripped away from Rey, and she was sent into the back wall.

“Don’t you dare touch her,” Rey tried to catch her back as she watched Kylo sink his knife into her shoulder, not once, not twice, but three times. She was still standing up. She pushed Kylo off of her, his knife now in her hands. She swung at him, opening a wound on one of his arms. She swung and he dodged, almost in a rhythmic way. The two of them shouting as he lead Phasma further away from Rey. Finn joined the fight, grabbing the back of Phasma’s jacket, and pushing her into Kylo as he drove the knife straight into her stomach. She cried out in pain, but wasn't exactly done yet. 

Bringing her leg up, she kicked Kylo away from her, took Finn's gun, and ran towards Rey, grabbing her again. Rey could feel his pistol against the temple of her head. “No-”

“IF EVERYONE WOULD PLEASE BE QUIET!” Phasma's voice boomed across the sewers. Both Kylo and Finn calmed down. Their clothes and hair wet from the sewage water. “ _ Good, _ ” Her laughing was nothing short of insane and unhinged, before wheezing, trying to block out the pain of the injuries done to her. Blood was roaring to Rey's head. She could barely hear anything that was being said. “Drop your weapons.” Kylo and Finn obeyed. “Good, now kick them this way. Good. Good. Now, you're going to let me get out of here unscathed, or I'll kill Miss Kenobi.” She turned off the safety of the pistol. 

“I'm sorry,” Finn said. “But we can't let you do that. Police already converging on this location.” 

“Grant me safe passage or I will pull the trigger,”

“There's one more thing,” Kylo said. “There's no bullets in that gun.” Her eyes widened and Rey started laughing. She couldn't help it any more. With one sharp turn, she took the empty gun from her former friend, bringing the butt of the pistol down on her skull. While she and Phasma had originally been scuffling, she had managed to dislodge Phasma's old gun from it's holster. She picked it up now. 

It only took one bullet to watch her body go limp.  

She wished she could feel satisfied, to see that Jyn’s killer was dead, but that didn't solve the bigger issue. 

Jyn was still dead, and they weren't any closer to finding the person who orchestrated this than before.


	6. A Breath of Fresh Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is literally one of the only fluffy chapters you will get

It took a couple of hours for Rey and Kylo to fully get the smell of sewage water off of them, and Rey was now sat shivering by the fire. Kylo brought over a blanket, draping it over her shoulders. “You okay?” Rey didn’t answer, her trembling hands clutching the edges of the fabric.

_ Distract her,  _ he thought,  _ think and distract her.  _ “Would you like it if I braided your hair? May help keep it from sticking to your neck.” For a second, she was silent. Blankly staring into a space in front of her, but she looked up and smiled. 

“I’d like that.” He nodded and she moved, letting him get into position to braid her hair. It was softer than he thought it would be, easy to work with even though it was still damp. When he was done he picked up a small mirror that had been precariously perched on his shelf. She smiled. “Your hands are quite skilled, Kylo.” He almost choked. Rey hadn’t seemed to notice, sitting back down with her blanket wrapped around her body. “About earlier-” 

“We don’t have to talk about it. Finn told us to lie low and he would take care of her,” 

“I want to talk about it,” She said. 

“Okay,” Kylo sat down across from her. “Talk. I’ll listen.”

She nodded, “She was my friend…” Something in her throat caught. “I can’t believe I did that.” 

“She was going to kill you.” 

“I know that she was going to kill me, and I know that it’s stupid to regret it but, I can’t help it.” 

“Well then that makes you better than her,” Kylo said, “because I’m fairly certain that she would have killed you in a heartbeat. And then where would I be? I’d be sad and alone again.” 

Rey giggled, “I can’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.”  _ It wasn’t sarcasm.  _ “I don’t think that you would miss my company.” 

“Where else would I find a woman of your intellect?” Kylo didn’t expect that making her smile would be such a joy to him, but it was. Even the smallest of a smile was warm and inviting, something she didn’t display when they were out at work. “Trust me Rey. your company is valued.” She blushed. 

“Thank you, Mr. Ren. You’re too kind.” 

“Just telling the truth,” His breath hitched as he thought of an idea. “Let’s do something tomorrow, something without murder.” 

“That would be nice,” 

“Until then, you need to sleep.” 

“I think I’ll just sleep out here for tonight if that’s okay. It’s warm out here.” 

“That’s fine. Get some rest.” 

“Get some rest.”

The next day, Kylo and Rey walked down the street silently. It was one of the few days where the weather was pleasant, and the sun was shining on the streets like some sort of blessing. Of course, only a few people dared to show their faces outside after the ‘frightening and confusing’ protest that took place yesterday. 

Kylo had told Rey about a bakery that sold the best sweets in Coruscant, and she was eager to try it. “You know, it’s actually peaceful out here.” 

“It is, isn’t it?” He added. He wished he was better at keeping up a conversation. “So,” There was an awkward pause as he tried to figure out what to say to her. 

“So?” 

“Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that we have been living together and solving crimes for a few weeks and yet we don’t know that much about each other at all?” 

“What do you want to know?”

“The basic things.” He said, “The things that every  _ friend  _ should know about.” He nearly choked when he said the word friend.

“The basic things. Like favorite color, book, and that kind of thing?”

“Sure, if that’s how it works? I’m not really sure. I wouldn’t know.” He couldn’t get over Rey’s laugh. It was one of the sweetest sounds that he’d ever heard. The Bakery was down the street, and Kylo just now realized how hungry he was. The smell of sugary sweets wafting through the air towards them. Kylo looked over at Rey, to see her mouth watering. 

“You better tell me what to order,” She said. 

“I will,” 

“If it’s no good then I’ll keep you awake for hours.” 

“It will be good.” 

“Good,” Rey seemed like the kind of girl to like something with an overabundance of sugar. “I can pay for-” He’d already entered the bakery before she could finish her sentence, coming back out a small basket full of chouquettes. 

“Have you ever had these before?” She shook her head no. 

“Oh, you’re missing out. They’re called chouquettes, they have this custard filling inside. You’ll love them, I promise.” They sat outside, under the awning. No one was watching them, so neither person bothered in using manners when they ate. Rey was messier than he was, crumbs spilling on her cleavage as she ate one after another. “You were hungry.” Kylo had only gotten the chance to eat two by the time the basket was empty. 

She nodded, guiltily wiping the sugar off of her lips. “That was...heavenly.” 

“Glad you liked it,” He said. They were about to get up when he said, “Mm, you have crumbs on your cleavage.” 

“Really? Where?” Kylo flushed a bright shade of pink, looking around for a second before pointing to the exact spot on her chest where the crumbs lie, and Rey laughed. “You really need to calm down, they are just crumbs after all, Mr. Ren.” 

“What?”

She rolled her eyes, wiping to crumbs off her chest before the two of them headed back down the street. They were silent for a second before Rey said, “My favorite color is green.” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Kylo paused. “Mine is black.” 

“Black isn’t a color.” 

“Fine, red… or hazel.” 

“That’s specific. Do you like the both of them equally or-” 

“Yeah,” Rey nodded, smiling. He was trying to think of what to say next, but nothing was coming to his mind…  _ Wait, books, right? She reads.  _ “What do you like to read?” 

“Dracula and Frankenstein were favorites of mine. I thought it funny how it started up a terror of vampires though,” 

“Not a believer in the mystical?” 

“Everything that comes unexplained just has not been explained by science, yet. Mr. Ren.” 

“Couldn’t agree more. I rather liked Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice.” Rey raised an eyebrow, quizzically. “What? Is a man not allowed to enjoy the more romantic things in life?” 

“No… it’s just… that’s not what I pegged you for,” 

“Well I guess for once, you’ve deduced something wrong, Miss Rey.” The both of them shared a good laugh, aimlessly turning streets and corners. They wandered upon the shop that Kylo had taken Rey’s violin to and picked it up. She was elated, walking down the street with the case pressed closely to her chest after she had tested it to make sure that it still played the right way. For a long time, Kylo and Rey just walked through the town and talked for hours and hours on end. About the case, about life, and about mundane things that Kylo usually found no interest in. It was a good day, but of course, good days always ended. This one would be ending soon, and something worse would come. Kylo just knew it. 


	7. Wrong

Finn was waiting for Kylo and Rey as the two of them returned to the apartment. He looked like he was going to die of a heart attack. Rey looked at him closely, seeing a newly formed bruise on his left cheek, and a tear in his uniform. “What happened?”

“Retaliation,” Leia came rushing in with a wet cloth that she pressed to his bruise.

“Keep that on there, okay?” The Chief Superintendent nodded and Leia looked him up and down. “Did the other person suffer?” Finn smiled nervously, about to speak before Kylo said,

“Mother, I think that you need to leave.” She rolled her eyes but left the room like he said, mumbling something about how much Kylo got into fights as a child. Rey smiled a little, but quickly turned her attention back to Finn. “What happened?” He asked.

“Well, that meeting happened. As I was leaving the mortuary to look at Phasma’s body, twelve of them met me outside.”

“TWELVE? How are you still alive?”

“Let me get to that,” He said. Understandably, he sounded a bit annoyed with the both of them. “So they asked me if I knew who killed her, and I said that I didn’t, I said that I was not there when that happened.” Rey could feel something in her stomach dropped. Did he get assaulted for not giving her away? “They told me that I had to figure out who killed her soon, or they would leak that information about me that they’ve been holding over my head. Then one of them pulled out a nightstick, and I tried to fight back but the others held me down.”

“Nothing broken?”

“No,”

“Well then you’re fine.” Rey jabbed Kylo in the side. “What?”

“He’s not fine, he got assaulted by twelve women in brides dresses, don’t you think that’s a little mentally scarring?” Kylo didn't say a thing. ¨Do you remember anything distinct about any of them? Accents, hair, anything.”

¨One of them did sound more educated than the rest. More vindictive, that could have just been my imagination, but that's what happened.”

¨English or German.”

¨What?”

¨Did she have an English or a German accent?”

¨Oh, yes. I don't really know. It seemed like a bit of both. The woman who spoke was not from here.” Rey nodded. It was obvious that that one was whoever was orchestrating the killings. If only they had known they would show up at that time. Rey felt like breaking something. There went an opportunity. She was being taunted now. There had to be some way to get this woman to come out of hiding when Kylo and Rey were both there. Some way to get her to show her face.

“Thank you for telling us, Chief Superintendent. For now you should go back to your significant other and get somewhere safe. We don’t want you or anyone else getting hurt.” She said.

“Are you serious? I can help.” He protested. “I can help with whatever you need for the abhorrent schemes you two plan. I can help with protection,” Rey shook her head. It was almost endearing that Finn wanted to help. Heroic even. But heroic things allowed for bravery, and bravery was stupidity, stupidity got you killed.

“Sometimes the best thing is to do nothing. If they see you around with us, if they get wind of you _helping us_ , then the repercussions are not going to be good and then that will be on me and Kylo to solve your murder or the murder of your significant other-”

“Rey-” Kylo said lightly.

“-and to be honest, I really don’t want to be put in that position because I think you are a very honorable man.” Finn swallowed and swallowed hard, nodding. He finally agreed and left, leaving an icy silence between Rey and Kylo as they were left to deal with this information.  Kylo said something, but Rey wasn’t paying attention.

* * *

 

_“Rey, you are never going to be a presentable woman if you argue.” The psychiatrist had said. “If you tame yourself and start cooperating with the treatments, you will be released before your sentence was supposed to be carried out and you can start anew, don’t you want that?” She knew that’s not what he meant. His slimy hands were always wandering up the female patients skirts, making them go insane when he insisted that he never touched them._

_Rey was in solitary confinement, she was an easy target. But she could defend herself until her brain was addled with drugs and her movements became sluggish. Even then she screamed, and he never liked screamers. She stayed in her room, counting the days, scratching tally marks into the walls with her finger nails. The morbid habit had left her fingers bloodied, but she didn’t care._

_She thought of Rose and Jyn, hoping that they were okay. Hoping that they were living a life where the police weren’t constantly trying to arrest them. Some times she wondered if they had forgotten her altogether._

_She hoped that they hadn't._

* * *

“Rey, did you hear me?” Kylo asked. The girl had shut down, and Kylo didn’t know what to do. There had to be something that could get the killer out of hiding. Something to reveal that it was the wife of Valkorion, or at least to get this person’s identity. Kylo went to his desk, trying to think of something to do that wouldn’t get them all killed. The likelihood of surviving meeting such a woman had more of a probability to get at least one person killed, so he wasn’t sure exactly what to do. _Narrow it down._ A voice in his head said. He thought he would never have to hear that voice again, alas it was permanently engrained into his head. _Narrow it down._ Luke would tell him.

His uncle was incessant when he was child, constantly insisting that he could improve, that he was to be the best of the best. _Are you stupid? The answer is right in front of you. You already know the answer, Ben. Close your eyes, envision it._ “Shut up,” He mumbled under his breath. Rey didn’t hear him. Still deep in thought about something else. He closed his eyes. Trying to envision the exit to the mortuary, and Finn coming out of it to be met by a circle of women disguised in bridesmaid dresses. Each one would be armed, concealing night sticks in their dresses. One of them had an accent, somewhat muddled of English and German. No one stronger than the other.

“You knew about Phasma’s death,” The woman would say. Her dress would be different than all the others. Perhaps black.

“Her body was found late yesterday evening, yes.” Finn would say, most likely nervous.

“Do you know who killed her?”

“No,”

“Liar.” Then he would get attacked. He thought of what could have given him some sort of clue to who she might have been. English with a German background. Wealthy enough to organize this. Most likely Valkorion’s wife. What was her first name then? Why wasn’t there any sort of record anywhere stating that the man had been married in the first place. Obviously the woman was smart enough to burn all existing records of her, otherwise Finn would have been able to find something in the Scotland Yard data files.

Rey got up, heading for the door. “Where are you going?” Kylo asked.

“I’m going to talk to Rose,” She said.

“Rose is in Witness Protection, you can’t talk to her without jeopardizing her location.”

“She’s not in Witness Protection,”

“What?”

“She switched locations yesterday.”

“That’s dang-”

“I’ll be back soon, Mr. Ren.”

* * *

 

Rey didn’t know what was wrong with her, all she knew was that Rose would be able to clear her head. Talking to the girl always did that. Rose was a stabilizing factor in Rey’s mind, she always had been and always would be.

Rey disappeared into the streets unfollowed and unwatched, far away from town, in a house that was much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. Rose had been expecting her. Black tea waited for the both of them, pastries sat in the middle of her table. “You look troubled.” She said.

“There’s something I can’t figure out.” Rey admitted.

Rose raised an eyebrow, “That doesn’t happen a lot. You okay?” Rey shook her head no as they sat down. “Tell me your problem. No guarantees that I can help you though.” She was always able to help Rey. Even if she underestimated herself.

Rey recounted the story to Rose, the girl listening carefully to every detail, and when Rey was done she waited. Rose paused for a second, thinking before she spoke. “So, Miss Valkorion is the suspect… and what makes you think that?” For a second, Rey paused. The fact that she had just disappeared and her body had never been found was part of it, but there was something else. Something familiar about taunting nature of the killings. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, so she only told Rose the part that she knew for sure. “Okay,” She said. “So, what you’re saying is this woman hasn’t showed up anywhere, and the only record of her even existing is a wedding band and a few other items.”

“Yes,”

“That’s going to be fun to track down.” Rey took a sip of her tea, trying not to stress out.

“Have you been to the mortuary to see if there was anything left after the attack?”

“No. If there had been I’m fairly certain that Finn would have picked it up and let Kylo examine the evidence.” Rose nodded again, seemingly as stumped as Rey had been when thinking about this. Rey realized that she was going to be here for quite a while with Rose. Hopefully nothing happened during that time.

* * *

 

_Darkness in solitary can make someone go insane. Rey knows that much. Drugs can make someone go insane. Electric shock therapy can make someone go insane. The human mind is a feeble thing when you are secluded from others, and Rey can feel hers start to deteriorate as she thought of the fact that she might spend the rest of her days in here, wasting away slowly. She would be forced at some point to give into the vicious cycle that the asylum perpetrated, and she would never be able to see Rose or Jyn again._

_“You can’t give up,” She would tell herself as she scratched another tally mark into the wall. Then she would proceed to distract herself. Running facts about animal and plant species through her head in an attempt to stave off boredom._

_The psychiatrist had put a bible in her cell for her to read it, but she refused._

_There was no use for religion in hell, there was no use for false comforts, even though Rey never found religion comforting in the first place._

_Sometimes she would just stare at it out of spite, throwing it at the doctors when they tried to force her out of the cell so that she would go to ‘treatments’. “You’ll be a better girl,” They would say. “Some man might love you someday, and you won’t feel the same need to kill him like you did Unkar Plutt.”_

_Something in Rey’s mind clicked as the door opened. The psychiatrist opened the door. “I’ll give you what you want.” She said. “If I get a candle and some matches in here.”_

* * *

 

Finn rushed through the door the next morning and Rey still wasn’t there. “Where is sh-” Kylo shrugged and started heading out the door with him.

“Where’s the next murder, Finn?”

“Don’t you want to wait for Rey?” Kylo rolled his eyes. He didn’t know where Rey was and was still a little peeved that he left with little to no explanation at all.

“I am perfectly capable of solving my own crimes, Chief Superintendent, now lead me to the scene so we can go ahead and get this over with.” Finn grumbled something about how Kylo was way more enjoyable to be around whilst Rey was with him and they started walking down the street. For a second, Kylo wondered why they weren’t taking the carriage until he looked up. It had been just out of view of his apartment window, but across the street from him, a charred body of a man hung from the balcony of a vacant apartment building. People were working on cutting him down.

“We found some things in the room up there,”

“Like what?”

“A woman’s glove,” Finn said. “And some partially damaged papers. It’s hard to see anything on them, but here.” Finn gave Kylo the evidence bag where the papers were sealed in. Kylo gently took one in his hand, trying not to freeze when he recognized the handwriting. It was Rey’s handwriting. A little more hurried and messy, perhaps from years ago.

“If you don’t mind I would like to examine these myself.” Kylo said. “I’ll give them back to Scotland Yard when I’m done, should only take a few days at the most.” Kylo lied, and Finn silently, pretending not to look as Kylo tucked the evidence bag into his coat pocket. “Is it okay if I go up there?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He knew he couldn’t examine the body just yet due to it still being hung up. The room looked like it had been wiped completely clean. Except for the evidence that Finn had found, there was nothing there that could be seen by the naked eye. Kylo examined the place, but there was no place for anything to be hidden. There wasn’t even any furniture.

* * *

 

Rey sipped her tea, trying to think of something to say. Rose beat her to the punch. “She’s going to try and set you up. That’s why she hasn’t showed up and why she isn’t going to show up. This Miss Valkorion is going to try and make you take the fall for the crimes, and then she will be absolved of any suspicion, free to go about her everyday life.” She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of that before. Rose was right, of course, the killer would try to blame the woman most closely involved with the investigation. “I doubt that any attempt to draw her out by you or Kylo is going to be very successful. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Rey said.

“But I know you wanted to draw her out…”

“I do know how to draw her out.” Rey swallowed and swallowed hard. “I’ll see you later, take care.”

She got up slowly, leaving without another word. Her hands were shaking, nails digging into her palms, and knuckles white. There was a feeling of dread in her stomach as she plotted the months of what was to come, what the killer would throw at her.

This wasn’t going to be fun at all.

* * *

 

_When Rey had come back to the house for the first time, no one was there. She didn’t know what she was thinking, coming back there after a police raid. It had been abandoned for a while. Rey went back on the path again, trying not to dwell on the fact that she had no shelter or food, she just felt numb._

_She didn’t know how long she had been walking until she heard it. Until she heard Rose screaming her name._

* * *

 

Rey got home the next night, and Kylo was dreading talking to her. “You’ve been gone for a while,” He said. Maybe he shouldn’t tell her about the very old diary entries he found with her hand writing, _no he should, if someone is planning on framing her she deserves to know._ “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” She nodded. “Sorry how long have I been gone?”

“Two days,” He answered. It was weird that she had no idea of how long she had been missing. She looked completely disoriented but Kylo tried not to remark on it. “Are you okay?”

“I hate that question,” She said. “You have something you want to tell me. What is it?” that was forward. Even for Rey.

“There was another murder,” She perked up a little.

“I'm sorry I wasn't there.”

“It's fine… There wasn't much there, except for these.” his hands were still gloved, so he showed Rey the diary entries so that she wouldn't have to touch them. _Sometimes I believe that this world should be cleansed by fire, there are too many men that wish to do harm to girls because it is easy in their eyes. Fire may eliminate them._ Signed Rey, October.

“That was a long time ago,” She said.

“I know.” Kylo turned to the crackling fire place. “Why did you write that, Rey? Be honest with me.”

For a moment she was silent, before her shoulders slumped, and she said, “That was the day I found out one of my friends had been raped and beaten to death.” She sounded like she wanted to throw up. With that simple explanation, Kylo threw the evidence into the fire. Rey's breath caught. “If you get caught,”

“I appreciate your concern but I'm trying to keep you from getting convicted.” The fire crackled louder behind them as it ate up the evidence. Rey looked confused, and Kylo opened his mouth to speak, but his breath hitched. He hated this. Seeing her here in any state of confusion or pain. Something of him needed to reassure her. “I don't care what anyone says I know you are not the killer.” With that simple sentence, Rey got up from the couch, and hugged him.

At first, Kylo was surprised. She wasn't one to show affection like that, and neither was he. It did not go unappreciated. “I don't know how to thank you,” She said quietly, “for trusting me. I don't think that many people have ever done that for me.” Three that Kylo knew of had. Phasma, Jyn, and Rose. Of course, two of them were dead. He hugged her harder, closing his eyes as he thought of what might have occured in her past that she hadn’t told him of. _She’s not the murderer._ He was sure of that.

“Well I hope that in return, you trust me.”

“I do,” There was something comforting in the way she said that.

* * *

 

_When Kylo Ren was younger, he went by the name given to him, Ben Solo. He hated it, and not for the reasons that other children hated their own names. ‘Ben,’ He’d be told. ‘One day, you are going to rule the Earth because of your mind.’ Then he would be taken away by his uncle, forced to read and memorize tons and tons of books with facts about the Earth, about the human body, about everything. He would store it away in his mind and keep the information, but not necessarily because he wanted to. He was at a school with children just as advanced, if not more advanced, than he was. Kylo had been held to a higher standard, and ultimately mistrusted._

_As a child, he had outbursts of anger, mostly caused by the stress that he bottled up inside as he put his soul into his academia. This lead to broken bones, to isolation, to getting made fun of, and to ultimately being moved away from people because his emotions made him an untrustworthy person._

_One day he broke, after being humiliated in class, he got up and left._

* * *

 

A few days later and it seemed that Rey and Kylo had only grown closer to each other. At times, Rey would pick up her violin as a nervous habit, and began to play. She played the song that had played the day of that Phasma died. Kylo would notice and stop what he was doing. “You want to get some fresh air?” He would ask. She would say yes and set down her violin, going out with him as they roamed the streets.

They would stay very quiet, Rey sometimes telling Kylo about certain places she had always wanted to go when she was a child, or talking about books. Anything that didn’t have to do with the case. They both needed the cool down. She seemed tense again today, and before she even got to her violin, Kylo asked, “Fresh air?” He asked. She nodded and they left, Kylo putting his coat over Rey. She smiled tiredly and thanked him. Kylo wished he knew how to make her feel better, it had been apparent that she had been falling into a bit of a depression.

“Are you hungry?”

“Not really,”

“That’s fine… do you want some books?”

“You don’t have to do anything special, Kylo. I just like walking with you.” Kylo blinked rapidly, looking over at her confused. _What was that supposed to mean?_ “This is the time where you say, thank you Rey, I enjoy your company and I would be very lonely without you.” He laughed nervously. Probably because it her joke was true.

“I enjoy your company a lot, Rey. And I want to make sure that you’re okay.” She shifted uncomfortably. Maybe she was not expecting the sincerity in that remark.

“I think that is one of the sweetest things you have ever said to me,” Rey said. “Why?”

“Why not?” He didn’t know what else to say. “You deserve a good friend,”

“So do you, Kylo.” She said. “I’m surprised you don’t have more friends. You’re… loyal, you try, and that’s a redeeming quality not many people have.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not very good with people.” He said. “You are the first person that has been able to stand me for longer than twenty minutes.” Rey laughed.

“If no one can stand you for more than twenty minutes, then I think that they are missing out on something. Because, yes, you can be annoying but so can I. So can everyone. You’re smart and you are considerate and loyal and that matters. That makes you a better man than most.” God, why did she say this kind of thing? He flushed a bright shade of pink. 

glad that Rey wasn’t looking at him when they walked.  The moment did not last long, the streets filled with smoke, smelling of cedar and flesh. Rey coughed. “That’s near by.” 

The both of them started running. Everything had erupted into chaos, a gentleman’s club had been lit on fire, a carriage sped by, the top of it on fire. Kylo kept running and running, trying to see what was going on, but when he turned around to make sure that Rey was still with him, she was nowhere to be found.

Amidst the chaos, she had disappeared, the smoke didn’t help either. “Rey!” He called. There was no answer. Just people screaming and crying in the streets, trying to figure out why the fire started. All of the sudden Kylo didn’t care anymore. Where was Rey? He retraced his steps, trying to find the woman. 

All he found was the ribbon that had been in her hair, trodden over in a muddy puddle. 


	8. Calm Before the Storm

It had been exactly three hundred and forty nine hours, thirty five minutes, and twelve seconds since Rey had gone missing and there had been no sign of where she was, whether the person who took her was involved in their current case or not, or even if she was still alive. Kylo had a rather potent glass of scotch in his hand as he stared into the burning fire, anger bubbling inside his stomach as he thought of how little progress he or the police had made in finding her. It kept culminating inside him, threatening to come out in a violent outburst. The longer he waited, the longer the chance that Rey might be dead moved closer and closer to being a reality. 

 

 

“Kriffing-!” His mother had ran into the room. That’s when he noticed that his hand was bleeding, pieces of glass stuck in it. “Hell,” It should’ve hurt, but Kylo just felt numb. Leia fussed over it for a few minutes, cleaning up the glass that landed on the floor as well as the shards that were in his hand. She bandaged it up silently, staring at her child all the meanwhile. “I know that you’re upset that she’s missing,” She told him, “but that gives you no excuse to start self harming again-” 

“I wasn’t self harming, mother.” 

“Then what was this?” She pointed to his bandaged hand. 

“An accident, I wasn’t paying attention.” 

“I’m not stupid, B-” 

“Kylo,” 

“Kylo,” she said. Her face looked hurt, it always looked hurt whenever he was in this sort of state. Kylo wanted to fix it, he really did, but there was nothing he could really do about it. They’d been over this before after the academy, after the death of his father, his habits never really died. He never really figured out what he could do to tell his mother that he did care about her. “What can I do to help?” she said that all the time. She always asked. He offered her a weak smile and gestured for her to sit down next to him. Leia seemed next to relieved that her child was actually reaching out to her. 

“I need you to run through something with me,” He was slightly drunk, but his thoughts weren’t as muddled and angry as they’d been before. 

“Okay, what do you need?” 

“I need to go back to where it started.” 

“Okay?” 

“So we were walking around the streets when a fire started at a gentleman’s club.” Leia nodded. She knew that much from what Kylo had already told her. The smoke was almost unnaturally thick for the fire to be from one building, although it was. That’s one of the things that made it hard to tell if Rey was next to me or not.” _God, he should have checked. He was such an idiot. That one mistake could cost Rey her life._ “There was chaos everywhere. We almost got trampled at least twice.” He closed his eyes. 

“Who did you almost get trampled by?” Leia asked. _Think, think of their faces you idiot._

“A coachman and a few other people.” He said. 

“Details, details please.” _Think, you asshole._ He started to replay the scene in his head. How the both of them had looked at each other like they knew what was going to happen. The first was the coachmen. The smoke had made it harder to identify him, but he remembered the man being older with a scarred face and a mustache that must’ve taken copious amounts of wax to achieve. 

“The first one was older, more sketchy looking, built like someone capable of being able to abduct someone without much struggle. The other people are harder to remember, they probably served as a distraction, the thing I don’t understand is why she never called out for my help, I could’ve helped her.” 

“Gun to her head, telling her to obey instructions or she would die. “

“No, she’s not the kind of person who would obey that easily, there would have to be something more at stake. She knows how to disarm someone who puts a pistol to her head pretty easily.” He opened his eyes again. “Oh,” 

“What?” 

“They must’ve had some sort of damning evidence-” He stopped from talking, “-I’m not allowed to tell you that. Sorry.” Leia nodded. She understood her son’s job, despite the fact that she didn’t like the danger that came with it. 

“So you have a motive and a face for the man who most likely took her, we’re one step closer to finding her.” She assured him. He did feel  a little bit better after that. “You need to rest,” 

“What if something happens?” 

“I’ll wake you up, but you won’t be of any use to Rey if you’re not at your very best, okay?” He nodded, getting up from his seat and heading to bed. Before he got to his room, he turned to his mother and caught her eye. 

“Mom,” 

“Yes, dear.” 

“Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.” 

“I know dear,” 

“And mother?” 

“Yes, dear.” 

“I love you.” It sounded like so long since he’d said that, despite the fact that they saw each other practically every day. “I know dear. I love you too.” 

 

* * *

 

Three weeks.

Three weeks and eight hours and forty three minutes. It was cold and damp and Rey was starving. That was to be expected when she was being held in some basement god knows where. It was too small. So small she’d had at least four panic attacks in the time she was here. It was all so familiar. Too familiar. _Come on, Kylo. Where the hell are you?_ She found it pretty pathetic that she was relying on a man to come and save her, but there was nothing to do. It was too dark to see a thing and she was only fed a small bread crust when absolutely necessary. She was just so tired. 

 

 

 

* * *

A letter. 

After four weeks they had finally found something that would lead as a clue to find Rey. It was a letter. _Dear Mr. Ren,_ the note said, _apologies for this note arriving later than I planned. I know that you must be worried about your precious little flower. She’s rather beautiful, don’t you think? I’m rather tempted to keep her, but I realize that would be unfair, now wouldn’t it._ It became very clear to Kylo that the person who took Rey was not involved with the people they were currently investigating. That meant that she was most likely still alive now. Kylo’s skin crawled as he kept reading the letter. _I require a shipment of weapons and free passage to the Americas. If you ever want to see your precious flower again, then I would consider delivering what I ask of you to the Coruscant dock._ “We need to search the docks,” Finn said. 

“She’s not being hid at the docks,” Kylo retorted. 

“How do you know that?” 

“Do you think someone is actually so stupid they would hide their leverage in the same place they want us to deliver the ransom? No, she has to be hidden somewhere else.” 

“Some times you just need things to be clever don’t you, well maybe people aren’t always as smart as you think they are.” Finn hissed back, “Well right now we don’t need that, I want to find Rey as much as you do and we need to check all of our options okay, so before you denounce every idea as stupid we should try it first. We’ll send a few officers to scout the place, okay?” 

“Okay,” 

* * *

_“Rey,” The first time Rose had hugged her in years made Rey feel like she was finally breathing again._ _“_ _Rey, oh my god, how did you get out?” Rey couldn’t speak, her throat was dry and scratchy, and her mind muddled from drugs and fatigue and isolation. She just held on to Rose as tight as she could. Rose didn’t mind that Rey hadn’t answered her question, she was more concerned for the well being of her friend._ _“_ _We were trying to find a way to get you out but we were constantly under the eye of police and we just weren’t sure when. I promise we never gave up on you.”_

_They broke away from each other, only for Rose to grab her by the hand and lead her away from the house and into a path behind a thicket of bushes._ _“_ _Jyn found a new place and married a guy, his name is Cassian. He’s nice, works high up in the military so she’s pretty cozy.” The girl looked back at Rey, the dark purple shadows under her eyes must’ve given away her fatigue._ _“_ _It’s just five minutes.” She said._ _“_ _We’re almost there.”_

* * *

_Just five minutes,_ Rey thought.  _Just five more minutes before more food would come her way, maybe she would be able to make her escape then._ It had been a while of Rey picking at things and untying restraints but she finally managed to make herself free. 

_Or you could die, and not get anywhere._ A voice in her head said. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about that possibility, despite the fact that she knew that she needed to mull over all possibilities of where she was before she tried to make her mistake.  _The person who kidnapped you is two times your size and you’re malnourished as well, so the likelihood of you being able to take them full on is a very low possibility. Think on what would be better for this case going forward, Kylo and Finn need you to survive._ Who was she kidding? They didn’t really need her to be alive to figure out who the killer, if they weren’t stupid, they would know that the person who kidnapped her wasn’t affiliated with the people they were investigating, but paid by a medium to take her out of the investigation as a distraction. That was obvious. 

Her train of thought got interrupted by the smell of salt and spraying waters from the sea outside. _God it was so cold out here. So_ ** _cold._** When the door opened for her food she found the courage to speak. “Are you going to tell me why you brought me here? It’s only fair.” 

A gruff voice answered her back. “You’re working the arsonist case, aren’t you?” 

“Yes,” 

“You’re working a long side a man who’s mother has quite a few ties in the parliament, ones that can get passage over to the Americas.” That was a lie, or at least a half lie. Anyone who was smart enough knew how to get passage to the Americas without being caught by authorities. The way he said it made it seem manufactured too. 

“Why can’t you just go through the system like a normal person? Are you a hardened criminal or too cowardly to steal a boat?” The man didn’t answer, but brought her her loaf of bread. She kept the remnants of her restrains in her hands, waiting for him to get close enough for her to make her move. He set the plate down and she brought her hands to each side of his head, fists pounding him once before she kicked him back as best as she could in her dress. Rey didn’t really care what his motives were, she was more focused on getting out and getting out alive. The remnants of her restraints made an adequate choking device, she pulled them tight around the man’s thick neck as he tried to buck her off. 

She was already starting to feel fatigue from this fight, she damned herself for getting into this situation, but she knew that now there was no way to get out of it. He pushed her off of him and she lost her footing momentarily, falling to the ground. He took this chance to get on top of her, and Rey panicked. This was too much like many times in her past… the asylum… the orphanage… even Hux. She kicked him in the groin, not once, not twice, but three times, making sure that the point of her shoe hit him in the right spot. He momentarily lost his balance, and she pushed her hands up into his face, her nails sinking into slightly scarred flesh. He screamed in pain and Rey got up, starting to run as fast as she could so she could get out the room when the man tackled her yet again, a knife burning a line down her abdomen, not deep enough to do any real damage, but deep enough to hurt. “You’re staying right here, harlot.” 

 

After that, she blacked out. 

* * *

Finn knew that asking criminals favors was absolutely against all of his principles, but to be honest, he was running out of options. Officers searched the docks and said that they found nothing, and he didn’t want to tell Kylo that Rey hadn’t been found yet. He didn’t want to accept the fact that she hadn’t been found either. Something about her had made Finn feel better, about himself. 

Maybe it was what she said,  _all that matters is that you love someone,_ she’d said. Rey had been the first person to say that to him and mean it, and he wasn’t going to let such a person waste away in captivity. 

A woman in a bridesmaid dress stood there in his office, waiting for him to talk. “Did you have anything to do with Rey Kenobi’s disappearance?” The ask was blunt, and braver than he would’ve ever imagined herself. The woman under the veil shook her head no. “Are you absolutely sure? Because I know you’re high up and you think that you can lie to me,” His hand slammed down on his desk and hard, a satisfying crack sounding off in the air. “I’m not going to live in fear of you any more, so if you want compliance of me in the future, you will tell me what happened with Rey and where she is now.” 

The woman under the bridesmaid dress laughed. “That’s very brave of you, Chief Superintendent. I admire that. But we had nothing to do with Rey Kenobi disappearing, but believe me, we are looking into it.” His blood chilled, and he sat back, slightly confused. 

“What?” 

“When the fire was set in the gentleman’s club, there were operatives around watching, we were waiting for a certain man to be drawn out by the fire. A serial murderer, a pedophile, a rapist.” Finn thought that he might throw up at that last sentence. 

“What?” 

“He intercepted her before we could get to him, he wants arms and a free passage to the Americas to escape us,” The woman said. “Don’t worry, we know that as of now, Miss Kenobi is safe from any harm, he knows that if his own life is in danger if he harms another girl. It will come to a painful end if anything happens to her.”  

“Where is she? And why would you care if she was hurt? You murdered her best friend.” 

“Our leader has an interest in Miss Kenobi, and her being hurt would put a damper in our plans, so we were quite displeased when we weren’t able to free her from such a situation. As for Jyn Erso, she was to get the girl’s attention. Nothing more. But that’s besides the point, you want to know where Rey is.”

“Yes, that’s why I summoned you here in the first place, now isn’t it?” 

“Yes.” The underlying tone of her voice said, _be careful, the braver you get the more likely we are to dispose of you._ _“_ Do you remember the pier where Satine Kryze was found dead a couple of years?” Something in his stomach dropped. That was the first case he’d worked when he joined the police force. 

“Yes,” 

“She’s there. I suggest bringing backup.” And with that she was gone. 

* * *

  _Rey had always had this fantasy where she lived with a garden, silent and a way from other people, in this house she had a library with a winding staircase where books were lined up to the ceiling, an abundance of music for her to learn on her violin, and nothing ever happened that made her feel as gross as she did right now._

_Everything was closing in and Rey was hyperventilating, it was Jyn who found her this time, she was in the closet and she was sweating from a fever._ _“_ _Rey, can you look at me?” She asked. Her voice was quiet but firm. Rey obeyed her._ _“_ _You need to talk to me, okay? Tell me what I can to do to help you.”_

_Rey had counted months since she spoke last, it had been summer, it was cold now._ _“_ _Nightmare,” Was all she could muster._

_She hated it._

_She hated feeling so weak._

_Jyn brought her in for an embrace._ _“_ _I can only imagine,” She said,_ _“_ _but trust me, you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. So much stronger, if anyone can beat the nightmare, it’s you.”_

 

* * *

Rey woke up, gasping and alone, but still in the same room that she had started out in. She touched everything, trying to see if anything had been done to her after she passed out, but nothing had happened, she must have been out for a few hours because the wound she’d gotten earlier had stopped bleeding. She felt a bit light headed, but numb and cold for the most part. 

She didn’t even care that she hadn’t found a way out of this place yet. 

It was getting near that time, she felt, where she probably wasn’t going to make it very much longer. She looked to the ceramic plate that he’d left for her with the small crusts of bread on it. She might have to take matters into her own hands so she could stop suffering. 

She just wanted this to end- 

_“Rey!”_ Voices boomed outside, Kylo’s voice the most notable of everyone’s, gunshots boomed and rang through the walls and Rey covered her ears. “ _Rey!”_

_Was this is a dream?_ Rey laid back on the ground, closing her eyes.  _If it was a dream she’d wake up soon, hallucinate more, and then die. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe Kylo was actually here._

_He’s coming to get me,_ she hoped. 

_I can hear him coming to get me, he’s coming to get me._


	9. I'll Be There To Stop You Bleeding

 

 

 

When Kylo first saw Rey, everything started to revolve around her, he didn’t know why but it just happened. Her radiance pulled him into her gravitational pull, and now that he saw her, he found himself closer, panicking because she was laying in a pool of her own blood and he couldn’t see if she was breathing or not from where he was standing. He rushed over to her, completely forgetting the gunfire with the police, completely forgetting everything else at this moment. He picked her up, about to remove a glove from his hand to check if she still had a pulse, but before he had a chance to do a thing, her eyes fluttered open. Kylo felt like he was going to have a heart attack, “Rey,” She looked confused, meekly reaching up for his face, caressing it lightly with her thumb. 

“You’re real,” She said. 

“I’m real,” He confirmed. 

“You’re crying,” He hadn’t realised it until now, but she was right. Tears had escaped his eyes and were stinging his cheeks. 

“I was worried about you,” He said. Suddenly Rey became more aware of her surroundings. 

“How did you find me?” She asked, her voice solidified, becoming harsher. 

“Finn said something about an anonymous tip.” She didn’t seem to like this answer, but took it anyways, trying to sit up and grunting in pain. “No, no, no. Don’t try and move, you’re hurt. Do you know if you’re still bleeding?” 

“No, the wound’s a couple of hours old.” 

“Okay, okay.” Kylo put his arms under her and she yelped in alarm as he stood up with her in his arms. 

“What are you doing?” she said. “I can walk-” She bit her lip again, realizing walking might not be the best thing right now. “Where are we?” 

“A house on the pier,” That was a vague answer, but that was all he could really offer her. He started to move to the door when the gunfire died. 

“Is she there?” Finn called out from outside. 

“Yeah!” He called, “I have her,” When he walked out, he saw something almost resembling a massacre. Three police officers lay wounded, and the breathing scum that had taken Rey was dead. _Good, it only would’ve been better if he had gotten to do it himself._ There was a doctor on sight, ready to look at Rey. She was barely conscious, so he was able to do it without her struggling or anything. She was malnourished and starting to work up a fever from the loss of blood, but with enough tentative care, she should recover fully in a week or two. 

That answer was better than the other possibility. 

Kylo was relieved when he finally got her home. He carried her up the steps. Leia was waiting in worry, gasping in relief when he and Rey came up the stairs. “God almighty, you’re alright.” 

“She’s not,” He said. Gently, he laid her on the couch, and Leia hurried to Rey’s room to get a pillow for her. 

“What happened to her while she was-?” 

“She was starved, stabbed when she tried to escape.” Leia’s eyes were burning as much as Kylo’s were. “I can’t imagine what she was thinking… wondering if anyone was going to come back for her… I should’ve found her sooner.”  

“Hey! You did what you could, okay? Do not start blaming yourself for something that isn’t in your control.” He knew that he shouldn’t. It was stupid to be so irrational, still- “We’re going to take care of the girl and she is going to be fine, do you hear me?” He nodded. He didn’t know what else to do. 

“She has a fever,” 

“I’ll go get a cold compress for her, the apothecary will be open in the morning and I’ll pick up some things for her there.” 

“Thank you,” He said. She nodded and then left, just then Finn and Rose came through the door. Both of them looking tired, but Rose found a burst of energy when she saw the state that her friend was in. 

“Rey!” 

“Ssh, she’s asleep.” 

“Oh, sorry.” Rose whispered, she ran over to her, sitting on the couch. Finn took Kylo to the side, standing in the hallway that lead to Rey’s room. 

“We need to talk,” He said. 

“What about?” Kylo was busy looking at Rey. His mother entered the room briefly to apply a cold towel to her head, and then Rose continued to make sure it was kept on her head. 

“You know what about, I’ve been avoiding this because Rey was missing and we had more pressing matters but she’s back now, and I can’t delay it much longer.” 

“What?” 

“I know you burned those diary entries I gave you,” He looked like he was waiting for Kylo to deny doing such a thing, but all Kylo did was shrug. He didn’t feel any remorse. “Kylo, if someone finds out that you tampered with evidence you could go to jail!” 

“Can we talk about this some other time? Rey needs me right now,” 

“No, we have to talk about this now, okay? You are my friend and I can not see you implicated in all this, or her, okay? And if someone finds out that I lied and you took the evidence, you need to think of a story.” Kylo swallowed hard and nodded. 

 

 

“Kylo?” Rey called out, both Kylo and Finn turned their attention to her.

“Rey,” 

* * *

Rose was by her side, and Kylo was too. She looked around, realising that she was back in Kylo’s apartment. “When did I get back here?” 

“Thirty minutes ago,” Kylo told her. He was choking back tears again. Rey wasn’t sure why. 

“I missed you,” Rose’s voice was cracking. Rey wanted to comfort her, but she wasn’t going to talk to her now. Not when her past would be brought up. “Did he do anything to you?” 

“No, not really… well besides stabbing me not really.” She laughed a little, pain radiating through her abdomen. Kylo looked down at the ground, and Rey knew what he was thinking.  _It was my fault. I shouldn’t have let him take you, I should have been paying better attention. I should have found you sooner. I guess I just wasn’t smart enough._

“You’re probably tired,” Rose said. Rey nodded. “I’ll leave you alone.” She turned to Finn. “Thank you for letting me know you found her.” He nodded, then turned to Rey as Rose left. 

“We killed him.” He told her matter-of-factly. “Four bullets to the chest, one lodged in his shoulder.” 

“That was very valiant of you, Finn.” The man nodded softly. 

“The bastard deserved it,” He told her, “I wasn’t going to let the man who tortured you go off easy.” Rey smiled, and he nodded before putting back on his hat and heading out the door. She was left with Kylo, who was practically shaking. Rey looked down at his hands, watching his fingernails cut into the meat of his palms. 

“Calm down,” She said. 

“What- I-” He realized what she meant, and unclenched his fist. 

 

“ I was just-” 

“Blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault?” He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, knowing that he didn’t have an answer to refute what was already true. “It’s okay, Kylo. It wasn’t your fault.” The man bit his lip, still not able to meet her in the eye. It was just an instinct, blurred by fogginess in the brain and a fever, but she grabbed his hand. “It just wasn’t.” 

“It feels like it is,” 

“Then you’re an idiot,” Both of them laughed and then Rey started coughing and the smile was momentarily wiped off of Kylo’s face. “I’m okay,” She told him. “I’m okay,” 

“Okay,” 

“I just want you to know that it means a lot to me that you took the time to find me,” 

“I never gave up on you,” 

“Why?” 

“Because you’re my friend, and I don’t have many of them. You’re important to me and I didn’t want to see you hurt. It…” Kylo tried his best to swallow his emotions, his voice cracking. Rey’s heart tugged a little. “It kills me to see you hurt now,” 

“I’m fine,” She tried to assure him. He nodded, pretending like he believed it. 

“I’m staying out here with you tonight.” It was hard for her to figure out how to react to this, she didn’t know why he was so worried about her, she was still alive. He sat there, making sure she wasn’t thirsty or hungry, she had no appetite yet, they agreed to work towards that in the morning. 

At one point, Rey tried to get up, but Kylo made her sit back down. “What do you need?” He asked.

“Kylo, I’m fine. Let me get up, we need to work on the case-”

“The case can wait, there’s always going to be mysterious murderous cults.” She sighed.

“ _Fine, but I’m bored and thirsty.”_

_“_ Okay, I’ll go get something.”

“And Kylo?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you,”

* * *

 

A few days after Rey was back, she was feeling back to normal, playing her violin as Kylo read. They waited for something to happen, but for some reason, nothing did. The silence was weighing on both of them, creating an unsung anxiety between the two. Still, Kylo tried to focus on the fact that Rey was back, and now that she was back everything is okay. He listened to her play as he read, and was met with a new melody she’d never played before. It wasn’t ominous or foreboding like some of the other things that she had come up with. When she was done, it was clear she hadn’t finished the song, but he asked, “Was that a new piece?”

“Yes, it’s not finished.” She seemed rather tight lipped about it, so naturally Kylo decided to pry a little bit more.

“What’s it named?”

“What?”

“The name, you always title your songs.” He said.

“How do you know that?”

“Because while you were gone I rifled through your things and found all of your songs,” The both of them paused, laughing for no reason other than sleep deprivation.

“Right, I’ll remember to lock my stuff up before some random pervert kidnaps me again.”

“Right, that’s not going to happen again, now the title of the song please.”

“What if I can’t tell you?” Heat rose to her cheeks, suddenly giving off a subtle yet embarrassing blush. “What if… it’s a secret?”

“Well now I’m really interested,” Quickly, Kylo got up, running for her music stand.

“Kylo!” Rey shouted, practically jumping on him. The two of them struggled for a minute, Kylo getting enjoyment of Rey trying to grab her sheet music as he held it above his head. “Give it back!”

“I’ll give it back if you can reach it,”

“You’re a child,”

“You’re short.”

“I’m one hundred seventy centimeters, you are just freakishly tall, now give it back you big oaf!” He laughed, and Rey growled. She dug her heel into his shoe.

“Ow!” Quickly, the girl grabbed the sheet music from him and started running to her room, giggling, but Kylo still had the advantage of height over her. In a quick moment of ungentlemanly behavior, he grabbed the sheet music from Rey and caught a glimpse of the title of the song, _Loyal Friend. Great,_ Rey thought to herself.

“That was supposed to be a surprise,” She said grumpily.

“You’re writing me a song,”

“As a gift, a thank you.” Kylo handed her back the sheet music, and she could see his brain working. Somehow he was blushing even harder than she was right now. He looked down.

“You didn’t have to do that,” He said.

“You saved my life,” She replied. “You’ve been there for me, of course I had to.” She bit her lip, watching as Kylo looked down at the unfinished song. “You like it so far?”

“Yes, it’s… beautiful.” Rey wished that she could get out of this awkward moment, but Kylo seemed to get the hint, giving her back the sheet music. She went to put it up in her room, closing the door behind her so she could breath properly.

_God, what was wrong with her?_

* * *

 

Another day and Rey said that she wanted to go outside. It was growing closer to winter and nothing had developed in the case yet. So he agreed to go outside with her. Rey didn’t have the proper type of coat so they agreed to go get her one. For the moment, Kylo let her borrow his. “Are you sure that you don’t need this?” She asked. Kylo shook his head no, but Rey could tell he was cold. “You’re going to catch a cold,”

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are. And I’m going to say I told you so,” He rolled his eyes, a small smile playing at his lips.

“You like to say that a lot, don’t you?” He found himself looking over his shoulder and into the street every once and awhile.

“You can quit doing that, you know?”

“Hmm?”

“Stop looking over your shoulder like someone might come up and take me away. It’s fine. I’m fine.” _Damn, she never missed anything did she?_ Kylo didn’t know if he could explain it to her, why he was worried about her constantly. She was so logical - he wasn’t sure that she would understand the paranoia he got after the events of the last few weeks. “It’s flattering really, that you care. But I’m fine, so you can keep your head forward and we can pretend like the last few weeks never happened.” Kylo nodded. He wanted to forget too.

“Agreed, now let’s go get you a new coat.”

Rey had thought several times about how Kylo was better at picking out clothes for than she was. He’d picked out a dark blue coat for her that was very soft and very expensive, but she’d bought it without a second thought and they set out on the city again. “I missed being out and about with you.” She said.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Rey nodded and proceeded to tell him, “when you’re being held captive there’s no one to talk to. It was lonely.”

“Well you are back now,” He told her. “and I’m not going to leave you. So you don’t have to be worried about being lonely again.” She smiled, although Kylo could be awkward, he always knew the right thing to say.

“Now, are you hungry?”

“Starving,”

“Good,”

“Can we go back to that bakery?”

“That’s where we’re headed.”


	10. The Dollhouse Murders

“Nothing’s happening.” Rey says briskly as she looked outside the flat and down in the street. “Why is nothing happening?” 

“Oh, sorry I think all the criminals are on hold for the time being and cannot convenience your boredom.” Kylo answered sarcastically. Rey rolled her eyes, sticking out her tongue, Kylo pretended to be offended, scoffing rather dramatically. “I put out a few messages letting people know that we’re taking clientele for the time being—” 

“I want something to do!” She shouted. “Save me from this boredom—” The girl sighed. Just then Leia walked through the room, a woman following suit. 

“You have a client.” She said nonchalantly. Rey looked at Kylo, her eyes widening. Her expression said,  _ ‘I didn’t think that would actually work.’  _ “I’ll bring up tea for all of you.” Leia knew when to leave the room, thankfully. Kylo offered for the woman to sit and she did so. She was meek and someone that didn’t look in any bit remarkable, older with greying brunette hair. She was a bit wider, and her clothes were obviously a well enough quality to show that she was affluent, but she didn’t make a point of accentuating her beauty. 

“Hello, Mr. Ren… Mrs… Ren?” 

“Oh no, we’re not married.” Kylo said. 

“I’m Miss Kenobi, his business partner.” The woman seemed a bit confused for a minute, but she accepted it rather fast. 

“Okay, sorry about that.” She sighed, “Um… I wasn’t sure exactly who to go to with this, but I’m scared for my daughter.” Rey raised an eyebrow as she began to speak. “Um— you have to promise that you’re not going to disclose any of this to anyone else, especially my husband.” Rey nodded sympathetically, and the woman continued. “My daughter is a very creative girl, only nine, and she creates these sort of dollhouses…” Kylo didn’t know where she was going but he was already starting to get bored, “...and they’re frightening to say the least.” 

“Frightening? How so?” 

“Murders,” She says, “She stages murders in these doll houses… and I never thought that they would come to life… they would just be sick dreams but then one of my butlers ended up missing.” 

“Do you think that your daughter murdered your butler?” She asked. 

“I… I don’t know what to think…” She stuttered. “My husband thinks that she should be in an asylum but I don’t know.” 

“Is the dead body still there?” Rey asked. 

“Yes it is, it’s in the cellar.” 

“How long?” 

“A few hours,” She said. “Nobody has touched it,” 

“We need to go now,” Kylo said. He felt sick. “In twenty four hours everyone becomes more prone to disease.” Rey nodded. It was obvious that this woman didn’t know that because of her slight panicked reaction. “You can tell us where you live on the way.” 

* * *

 

The woman was rather well off. “Please be quiet, right about now is when my husband is taking a nap because of his migraine.” Rey smirked at that. They were lead up some stairs and far down a hallway where maids were bustling about the place. The woman stopped at the door. “There’s something I must warn you of,” She said. “My daughter isn’t too fond of men,” 

Rey turned to Kylo, “Stay out here.” 

He nodded and let her through with the woman. The inside of the girl’s room was dark, the sheets were stripped from the bed and put over the window, she had craft supplies everywhere, including several kinds of paint and some brushes. The girl was working away at another project. Rey couldn’t help but feel intrigued. “Are you here to take me away?” She asked. Rey froze, “Mother told me that no one was going to take me away but I don’t believe her.” 

“No,” Rey said quietly, “I would never do that.” The girl looked back at her. She looked so similar to what Rey looked like when she was a child. Small and dark hair, her eyes were darker than they were now. “Is it okay if I sit by you?” She asked. The girl nodded. “What’s your name?” 

“Violet,” 

“That’s a pretty name,” Rey sat down, looking down at the dollhouse that she was working on. “So, your mother tells me that you’ve been working on these dollhouses…” Violet nodded, pointing to a doll in the kitchen. 

“She’s going to die tomorrow.” A chill went through Rey’s bones, but she kept her cool. 

“How do you know?” There was no way that this girl was responsible for these murders, she was too small for that. 

“She told me,” The girl said. Rey could hear her mother tense in the background. 

“Who?” 

“My friend, she tells me to make these?” 

“What’s her name?” Violet looked at her and then her mother. She pointed from her to the door. “Go out,” Rey instructed her. The mother looked at her, offended by this, but she followed as Rey told her. 

“Vaylin.” The girl said. 

_ Rey had tried to forget that night to the best of her ability, there was nothing that she wanted to remember about that evening. She remembered two things. There was fire, and Rey and Rose were the only ones who survived. Or at least, that's what she thought. It was nearly a year after Rey had escaped the asylum that she heard of a third girl, just barely older than her, badly burned on one side of her face.  _

_ She swore she could never remember her face, but there was something hauntingly familiar about her.   _

Rey swallowed and she swallowed hard.  Imaginary friend was the first option that came to her attention.  Evidence suggested that might have been a very plausible idea. Violet seemed reserved and lonely enough to conjure up someone in her mind to justify her killing people, but that didn't add up with everything else. 

“Did Vaylin kill the butler?” She asked.

The girl was silent for a minute. Rey could swear that she saw fear in her eyes. “Promise you won't tell anyone I told you?”

“I promise.” She nodded silently. “Can you show me to the body?” The girl got up, dusting her hands off on her skirt. Violet put her small hand in Rey's and lead her to the door. There Kylo was standing. He stayed silent, following Rey and Violet with a questioning look on his face. They were lead down two flights of stairs, a bunch of maids who were scrubbing things down, and down one more flight of stairs after they passed the kitchen. 

The body was at the bottom of the stairs and it hadn't been touched at all. “And… when did Vaylin tell you about the butler?” 

“About a week ago,” Violet explained, “she wanted me to be extra detailed with this one. Make everything right or you aren't my friend anymore.” 

Rey turned to Kylo, “Go get some light.” He nodded and left. Violet and Rey went deeper into the basement to get a better look at the butler. “Why did Vaylin say that?” 

“She said that someone special would be coming over, and she wanted to make it just right for them.” Rey felt like she was going to throw up when she heard that. Whoever this person was, was tormenting this kid, just to get Rey’s attention. Kylo came back with a flashlight, staying his distance away from Violet, but close enough to the body so Rey could go ahead an examine it.  _ Stop it,  _ she told herself,  _ focus on the task at hand.  _ “She said it would be okay to tell you how he died though, that part didn’t matter as much.” The way she said this with such a nonchalant manner, “Multiple stab wounds to the abdomen, and one to the heart.” She said, “Vaylin told me it was for a little flare.” 

Rey looked down at the body, she was right. He was killed during his sleep most likely, there was no signs of struggle, but there was something that she noticed that she wasn’t sure that she liked. The state of his hands. His knuckles were split and looked like he had recently punched someone. She turned back to Violet. “Do you know about this?” She held his hand up for the little girl to see. She didn’t say anything, averting her eyes. “Do you know anything about this, Violet?” For a long time, the girl was silent, and Rey thought that she wasn’t going to say or do anything. If she did, she was probably going to cry. 

“He hurt me,” She whispered. Everything fell into place, Vaylin was her, the one that she was looking for. And she was laughing at Rey in this very moment. “Again, and again.” If she did tell this to anyone else there would be a chance that she would be locked up. A girl who defended herself in today’s society could just as well be incarcerated. The butler wasn’t really of consequence. Violet’s mother came down the stairs and Rey looked up to her saying, 

“You have quite a vast property, Miss. Get someone you trust to dump him out far away from here and light him on fire to get rid of any evidence that might implicate you or your daughter, but she didn’t kill him so you can go to your sociopathic excuse of a husband that your daughter does not need to go to a mental asylum, she needs better security in her house.” Kylo looked at her, eyes widened. She started walking up the stairs again and past all three of them. “In fact, it’s almost pitiful how easily he tried to condemn her when it’s obvious that this isn’t her fault. There is someone else in the house.” 

* * *

 

Just then, everything got extremely silent and Kylo was left with a chilly feeling in his stomach. Rey’s eyes were wild and angered, her knuckles were white, fingernails digging into his palms. She was afraid, but to everyone else she looked mad. “Everyone get out of the basement, there’s a very real chance that someone is going to be murdered very soon, Violet you’re going to stay with me. I want to make sure that no one tries to hurt you okay?” Violet’s immediate reaction was almost an immediate, visceral gravitation towards Rey. She grabbed her hand again as they reached the top of the stairs. “Do you trust me?” 

“Yes,” Kylo followed the both of them, still silent. He didn’t know how to process all of it, he was just letting Rey take the realm again. He wished that he could help more with this but it seemed like Rey knew a lot more than he did about this. 

“Then you can trust him as well,” Rey pointed at Kylo. For a second, Violet looked skeptical, but then she nodded, and Kylo followed them out into the kitchen. He could see the gears in Rey’s head turning, and he wasn’t going to like it. 


	11. Pin Cushion Dolls

Kylo knows that doing this can get him killed. That's part of the fun. He made as much noise as possible, watching Violet’s father come out of his room and down the stairs in a bathrobe. That was a spectacle. “Who are you?” The man asked.

“I am a detective,” He said, “and I was informed to tell you that if you don’t get out of this house soon, there’s going to be a murder.” The man’s face turned white. It was nearly dark outside. “And if you’re thinking that it’s your small and nearly underfed nine year old daughter who would commit this murder, you would be sorely mistaken. It is my shame to inform you that there has been someone else in the house talking to your daughter the entire time.” The man was about to speak but Kylo wasn’t done yet. “Now if you want your life to be spared, you will go to Scotland Yard and get the Chief Superintendent’s attention. You can tell him that I am in need of assistance and make sure he gets back to this place as quickly as possible. Got that? Now go.”

* * *

 

Rey stood in Violet’s room with a knife in her hand that night. She knew that this Vaylin would be smart and try to lure Violet outside of the room in order to do what she needed. Violet worked on another room of one of her dollhouses. “You’re tense,” The girl said. “You’re thinking about something bad.”

Rey almost laughed. “Yeah, I guess. Happens when I get nervous, I guess.” Violet was still working on her dolls, not looking at Rey, but she nodded.

“What happened?”

“You wouldn’t want to hear it, it’s quite a dark story.”

“I make dark stories all the time,” She said, “if you’re worried about me telling someone, don’t worry. I don’t talk to many people.” The offer was quite compelling, after all, Rey had been holding these things in for most of her life, and this may be the only girl that would come close to understand what she had gone through. So she told her, told her the parts that weren’t going to mentally scar her, but she told her nonetheless. When she was done she felt more at ease. Violet stopped working on her dollhouse and turned to Rey. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thank you,” Violet nodded and yawned.

“I’m getting tired, it is okay if I go to bed?” It was getting dark outside.

“Go ahead,” Violet was already in her pajamas for the night anyways. Rey moved over to the side of the bed as the girl jumped in and threw the covers over herself, falling asleep not shortly after that. Rey found her light snoring endearing as she waited for the inevitable, she was almost falling asleep when she heard it, a loud clanging upstairs and then in the kitchen. Violet woke up as well, her eyes wide with fear. “I need you to grab the sharpest tool you have and hide somewhere you know that Vaylin won’t find you okay?”

“What if she finds me?”

“If she finds you, you stab her as many times as you possibly can, you kick and scream and you put up as much of a fight as possible.”

“What if she tries to kill me?”

“I won’t let that happen, okay? Now do as I say and you’ll be fine.” Violet nodded and Rey ran out of the room. She didn’t know what she was expecting. A bloody mess—perhaps? That wasn’t what she got. It wasn’t what Violet’s dollhouse scene had depicted at all. It smelled of human waste. Rey saw Kylo standing next to the wall, pushing the face of some masked man into the wall. That was definitely not Vaylin. Rey looked to her left to see the maid Violet said was going to die,  as well as the girl’s mother, and then looked back to Kylo. “A little help here—” Rey grabbed a pan from the kitchen cabinet and hit the man over the head. He crumpled to the ground.

“She has to have been here,”

“What?”

“Vaylin,” A sense of dread filled Rey’s stomach as she heard the worst sound in existence come from upstairs.

“Violet,” They both said in unison. Rey and Kylo made a break for the stairs. The sound of Rey’s heart pounding in her chest seemed to block out everything else. She tore through the house until she reached Violet’s room. Sure enough, a woman in a blackened wedding dress stood there, holding Violet with an iron grip, there was a sharp knife in her hands. Rey didn’t know what to say, and Kylo stopped. The girl was wide eyed with fear.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” A woman with a German accent hissed.

“I wish I could say the same about you, Miss Valkorion. Now why don’t you drop the child so we can hash this out ourselves.” The woman only gripped the knife tighter to Violet’s neck. She was trying to think of what to say next. _If she was actually the killer,_ Rey thought, _she would’ve already said something._ The wait was too long for her to be convinced that this was the woman that they were looking for.

The wait was too long for her to be convinced that this was the woman that they were looking for.

* * *

 

 

_ There was something on her mind that she couldn’t shake, but she wasn’t sure what. She was like this for weeks, and it was obvious to both Jyn and Rose that something was going on that they didn’t know about. Rose had tried several times to get her friend to open up about the asylum, about anything, but she wouldn’t. She seemed so deep in thought that she might never come back.  _

_ After a while, she had given up on the girl, but Jyn was more stubborn. It had been another Saturday night, after Cassian and her shared a romantic evening, she came to feed Rey, who had holed herself up in her room.  _

_ “Rey,” She whispered, “it’s time for supper.” For a second, the girl displayed no sign of recognition towards Jyn, but as Jyn walked closer to her Rey walked up. This was more than what usually happened. “Hey,” She put the soup down by the table next to Rey’s bed. “I need you to tell me what you’re thinking right now, okay? I want to help you.”  _

_ Rey shook her head no. Jyn sighed and picked up the spoon, feeding her some soup before putting the spoon back down and waiting. “I’m going to wait here until you talk to me. I’m not going to give up on you so easy okay? You’re my friend.” So she waited, she waited until the bowl of soup was empty, she waited until the sun had gone all the way down.  _

_ “There’s something wrong,” Rey told her.  _

_ Jyn nearly jumped, “What? Oh! What’s wrong?”  _

_ “I can’t remember,”  _

_ “Remember what?” Rey had paused again, thinking. “Is this about the girl who said that she was involved in the fire you and Rose started?” The girl nodded. “What can’t you remember?”  _

_ “Her face, she said she was one of the girls that lived in the orphanage but I remember every girl that was there. I remember all of their names and I remembered their screams when the place was burned to the ground. I tried so hard to keep it in the back of my head but when I escaped _ — _ ” She choked on her words, “ _ — _ it all came back to me in bits and pieces and I’ve been trying to sort through everything but it’s just not working. It’s not working and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do, Jyn.” She started crying, more than she ever had in years.  _

_ Jyn hushed her, pulling the teenager in for a hug. “Sssh, you don’t have to worry about that girl okay? She won’t find you and you will be safe. You’re safe with me and Rose and Cassian okay? You’re safe.”  _

_ “I’m just so scared,”  _

_ “I know, and it’s okay to be scared. That keeps you alive, but you can’t shut yourself off from the world, Rey. You have friends who can help you get through everything. I’ll help you get through everything.” _

* * *

__

“You aren’t actually her are you?” Rey said stiffly. 

“What are you on about?” The woman hissed back. 

“You take too long to respond, trying to come up with the most reasonable answer. One that would scare us into thinking you’re actually going to kill that girl and one to make us aware of this so called Vaylin’s existence. You’re not actually going to kill her. In fact what you’re going to do is drop her to the side and run for the door and see how far you can get since there’s a clear path for you to get off scot free. In fact, we won’t follow you.” She ushered Kylo out of the way, “Now drop the girl and you get your chance to go.” Of course, the woman was stupid enough to fall for it. She dropped the girl and Rey ran to her, making sure that no bodily harm was actually done. Kylo was about to run after her, but Rey stopped him. “Are you okay?” She asked. 

“Yes,” The girl nodded, wiping the tears away from her eyes. “But aren’t you going to go after her?” Just then, she heard the sound of people outside. Finn had arrived.

“The police are here,” She said. “You’ve done enough, okay?” 

“Where’s my mother?” That was something else… She didn’t know how to explain it to her, but Kylo rudely told her all she needed to know. 

“She’s dead,” 

The girl didn’t cry or even look upset. She was just vacant—Violet reminded Rey of herself—she looked out past the window. “I don’t want to live with my father,” She said. Gun shots sounded off outside. 

“You have to,” Kylo said. “It’s the most reasonable thing,” She was silent. Rey looked to Kylo and then back to the girl. 

“We should probably go down there and see what’s going on,” Kylo nodded and started walking downstairs, and when Rey was convinced he was out of earshot, Rey turned back to Violet. She knew that she might regret this later, but she decided to say it anyways. “Listen, when I go downstairs I want you to run north, okay? That’s where the road to the city is okay? And you have to be very careful. Do not stop for any man, do not let anyone touch you, you run until you get into the city. There you will find a violin shop, go five blocks down and to the left, and then the apartment labeled seventeen a will be where you stop. Knock on the door and tell the woman that answers you that Rey Kenobi sent you okay? Lie low there for as long as you need, she’ll take care of you.” The girl nodded and Rey bent over, giving her a hug. “You can do this.” With that she left the room.

* * *

 

She was already dead by the time Rey and Kylo had gotten outside, Finn looked fairly disoriented, and Rey was compelled to ask what happened despite the fact that she already knew what happened. Finn had killed the imposter of Vaylin. “Where’s the kid?” He asked. 

“Violet didn’t want to come out of her room,” Kylo knew she was lying. He didn’t say anything. “She’s still up there the last I checked.” Finn grimaced, and sent another police officer to go up there and look for her. 

“Are you sure that was the only one?” 

“It was.” Rey confirmed. “That one pretended to be our main suspect. Almost had my hopes up,” 

“Glad you’re so excited to meet a murderer Rey,” The girl laughed. 

“I guess I’m just… invested. Now, if we’re done here. I want to go home, I’m famished.”

“No, you’re not going to get to go home yet,” Finn said with a grimace. “You’re both going to have to come in for question—” The police officer that Finn had sent to collect her howled from the house, and then came running back out. “What the hell happened?” Finn barked. 

“The girl bit me! She bit me and ran!” 

“Goddamn it,” Kylo looked back at Rey, who was looking at the ground as ruckus started acting up. 

“This is going to be a long night,” She whispered. 

“Yes, yes it is.” Kylo replied. He didn’t even bother asking what she’d told the little girl what to do. He was too tired for that, he was just glad that Rey was okay. 


	12. A Quiet Moment

 

It had been another month since anything had happened, and Rey was content staying inside with Kylo. Although he could be slightly grating at times, Rey enjoyed his company more than she ever had another man in her life. He looked almost angelic in the soft light from the fireplace, reading with a focus that Rey admired. Without really thinking, she yawned. “What are you reading?” She asked. 

“Why?” 

“I’m bored,” Rey said. 

“You could pick a book off the shelf yourself,” 

“I know, but this way is more annoying to you.” Kylo repressed a smile, and rolled his eyes. She moved over next to him, poking her head next to him, reading over his shoulder. “God, you’re such a romantic sap.” It was poetry this time, she wasn’t sure whose it was but it was quite sad, he was reading a poem about a woman who the author loved, but the woman died before he got the chance to tell her his feelings. “Why are you reading this?” She asked as she read over his shoulder. 

“Maybe I just like reading this sort of thing, Rey.” 

“It’s sad,” 

“Is it?” 

“What makes you say it’s not sad?” She asked, “he didn’t tell get to tell her the truth. Not only is that bad for him, but it’s cruel to her. She died without knowing someone loved her. What if she loved him but she didn’t know?” She read the poem again,  _ There was a woman, sharper than the rest of the world, and hardened by time. She stood above the rest in a way that was comprehensible to none, and her beauty could not compare, and I loved her, yes I loved her so, but she met God before I could, and I never got to tell her _ —

“I personally think it’s beautiful,” Kylo said, “and don’t judge me for my choice in literature.” 

“Why is it beautiful?” she asked incredulously. 

“Because,” He leaned closer to her, smiling faintly, “even though they may have not gotten to be together for the rest of their life in a happily ever after, he finally admitted his feelings for her. He immortalised her in a book.” She shook her head and went to sit back in her seat. 

“I would rather the person who falls for me just tell me,” She laughed. “Not that anyone would ever fall in love with me,” He set his book down. 

“What makes you say that?” 

“I-I’m- an awful human being,” She stuttered, trying to attempt something of humour. 

“Don’t say that.” 

“I’m not conventionally attractive, I run my mouth too often, and I had a morbid fascination with murder, do you think that sounds like the ideal housewife to any man?” She asked. Kylo was silent and she knew that she had won. “Besides, I don’t think that I need anyone to fall in love with me. I have you don’t I?” 

Redness rose to Kylo’s cheeks but at the moment Rey hadn’t paid any attention to it. “Right, you have me.”

* * *

 

That night it was silent. Outside it was nearly freezing and so dark no one could see a thing outside. Kylo was still awake, reading when he heard her crying in her bedroom, without question he set his book down and went to her bedroom door, softly knocking three times. “Rey,” He called out. “Rey? Are you okay in there?” There was silence for a minute and he waited for a response, getting increasingly nervous as he waited for her to say something. 

“Kylo?” She called out.

“Yes?” 

“Come in please,” He came in to see her tangled in her sheets, sweating and wide eyed. “Close the door behind you,” He obeyed her request and went over to sit in on the edge of her bed. She’d had a nightmare. He didn’t ask if she was okay because it was obvious that she wasn’t. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kylo asked her. 

She shook her head no, “Anything else. Please.” What else was there to talk about? There hadn’t been much else that had happened that they could talk about, so Kylo racked his brain waiting for something that would be suitable to talk about. 

“I used to get nightmares a lot too,” Rey looks up at him, knitting her eyebrows for a small second, “It was something that didn’t go away, either.” He said. “Not for a long time, I guess that it still hasn’t, but it’s harder for me to have nightmares when I’m plagued by insomnia.” He almost laughed, even though it wasn’t funny. She did the same. “I remember when I was a child, I had this nightmare that I was stuck in this long never ending hallway, there were a bunch of doors but no one was in the rooms behind them, and I would just keep walking and walking calling out for my mother and father, but they never came to get me.” 

“That’s awful,” Rey said. 

“Yes, it was. But I stopped having that one,” 

“How did you stop?” 

“It wasn’t a question of how I stopped having it, I guess what it really was was just a matter of me coming to terms with the fact that I was alone.” Rey nods, and looks down. She’s thinking about something, and Kylo wants to know what, it seems almost immediate, but he wants to know every thought that’s going through her head right now. She still seemed shaken and he hated it. “But enough about nightmares, nightmares are just bad dreams that never come true.” He turned for a second, kicking off his shoes and sitting on the bed more comfortably. “Something else to talk  about…” he hummed, Rey laughed again, and something in Kylo grew warm as he watched her face light up, even if it were for the smallest of seconds. “Did I tell you that I used to go to a boarding school for gifted and talented young boys? It was the worst eight years of my life. But there was one good moment I remember,”

“And what was that?”

“There was one boy there, his name escapes me at the moment, but he had an absolute vendetta against me. He would laugh at me the few times I messed up, tied my shoes together once and I fell down the stairs and nearly broke my arm, and then another time he started throwing rocks at me when I had found a private hiding place on the edge of the property away from everyone else. Anyways, one day I had had enough, so I set my books on fire and stuffed a bag of matches that I had stolen from the kitchen in his footlocker.” Rey snorted, knowing where this was going, “anyways I immediately got my uncle, telling him that someone had lit my things on fire. Naturally, all the boy’s things were searched, and he got expelled for lighting my books on fire.” This time she did laugh, and Kylo’s breath caught.

He didn’t know what it was about her smile that was so captivating, but it was. Even now with her hair down and out of place, and her skin glistening with sweat. He smiled faintly, trying to shake the thought from his head. He sat there with her, just talking with her about things that ultimately didn’t matter anymore. He told her about some of his days with Luke, and some of his first days crime solving and he talked about how lonely he had felt before he had met her. When he told her this, she looked down at the blankets below her, and then sighed. “I need to tell you something,” His heart caught. 

“What is it?” 

“I lied, about something. Erhm, about my past. It was a while back when I didn’t trust you very much and… I just—I need to tell you now because it’s not fair to lie to you.” He shut his mouth, letting her talk. “I told you awhile back that I ran away from home. I told you that was how I met Jynn. That was a lie.” She looked up to see what his reaction was, and when she saw that he wasn’t offended by her not originally telling him the truth she resumed talking, “I never knew who my parents were, they left me at an orphanage tucked away from the rest of the world. It was filled to the brim with girls who were too mouthy, too smart, too gifted to be wanted by men. I was the most academically inclined of them all, and that made me notice things that I wasn’t meant to notice. I was a kid when I saw my first dead body. It was the body of Rose’s sister, Paige. The janitor had taken advantage of her, even after death, so we confronted him, ended up lighting the orphanage on fire, and we escaped…” She paused for a second as he took it all in, “...and I think that’s all I can tell you about right now. And it’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s not that at all… I think that that’s all I can say for tonight because I’m not done processing everything else.” 

Kylo wondered what he could say. He didn't care that she lied, what mattered was that she was telling him something that no one else knew, and that's what seemed to make his heart beat faster. The fact that she trusted him so much, and that she was luminous even in the middle of the night, were enough for him. The man realised that she was waiting for him to say something, so he said it. “Okay,” He told her, “Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be?” He asked her. “You told me now, that’s all that matters.” She nodded, trying to convince herself of what he had just told her and leaned back in the bed. 

“Goodnight, Kylo.” 

“Goodnight, Rey.” 


	13. Mischief

The next few days with Kylo were silent, but Rey was okay with that. There were some moments that the two detectives shared that were quiet—and yet they never fought—they shared a known understanding in the silence that most other people did not. She was still enjoying that silence when Finn came up the stairs. He was out of uniform and out of breath. “Where’s Kylo?”

“Out with his mother,” Rey replied. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I was actually

hoping he was away because I need to have a word with you.” He sat down. Rey wondered what would be so urgent as to bring the Chief Superintendent here when he wasn’t in uniform. “Um, you know about the diary entries that were found, don’t you?” It was clear that he didn’t quite know how to word this, but Rey knew what was coming. There was no way to deny it, especially since Finn was a smart enough man to know that Kylo told her everything.

“Yes,” She said.

“Then you know that those diary entries make you look more than suspect?”

“To the stupid man, yes.”

“So that means you also have a pretty good idea that there’s being an investigation started up against you?” Rey nodded. She hadn’t considered it, but that seemed reasonable. Especially after Rose had predicted that she would be framed by this killer. “And you’re not concerned at all?”

“If I was concerned, I wouldn’t tell you.” She replied curtly, “now are you here for other reasons besides ruining my tea time?” He went silent, grimacing.

“Rey—”

“—I know, Finn. I am perfectly aware of the fact that there’s an investigation being started up over me, it would only be logical. Now are you here to tell me something useful?” She spat. After this, she would need more than tea. Whiskey, maybe, although she dreaded alcohol.

“Yes, actually I am. I want you to know that I am not the one that is in charge of the investigation, in fact, it’s a completely different department all together. Higher ups in the government. All I can say is that I have compiled a list of some of the things they have collected about you, just so you know what you need to hide. Okay?” Rey nodded when she heard this, this was actually something that was useful. This way she could be prepared for what was to come.

* * *

 

When Kylo got back to the apartment, Rey looked more than irritated. Plucking at her violin strings as two other men talked to her, one of them was Finn, but there was another taller man sitting next to him. Kylo entered the room quietly, looking from Finn to Rey. They had instantly shut up about what they were talking about, the room icy. Then Rey said something, “Sorry, Kylo I was just being told that it’s unsavory of me to work with the police on this case.” Her eyes were burning. Kylo sat down next to her. 

“And why would that be unsavory?” Kylo looked to Finn who shook his head. This wasn’t his idea. It was his superior’s.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ren but we can not have a woman working for Scotland Yard.”

“Working? I’d call it volunteering,” Rey offered. “For a lost cause, I might add since it seems that almost none of your men seem to possess a spine or the intelligence it takes to analyse evidence at a crime scene.” Kylo winced. Rey knew that she was talking to a man of authority. If she didn’t take caution, she could very well end up in a bad position. He looked to Rey, silently praying that she would pick up on this. 

“Misses Kenobi,”

“Miss Kenobi, my husband’s dead.” She rolled her eyes. “But that’s besides the point, I will continue to work on this case until I catch the culprit, even if I’m not working with the police or not, and you can go ahead and try and investigate me or press charges. That doesn’t matter. This is personal.” She stared into the eyes of Finn’s superior and did not blink. He was the first one to be made uncomfortable, shifting in his seat with the weight of her eyes on him. He nodded and then got up and left, not checking to see if Finn was behind him. Rey looked like she was about to break something, putting her violin out of her reach as she sat down, bunching the fabric of her skirt in her hands. 

“What was that about?” 

Finn shook his head at Rey and she rolled her eyes, “Something legal Kylo, the less you know about it the better.” He could guess the rest. 

An investigation. He didn’t say a thing. “Are you okay?” 

“I am fine, I think that everyone else should worry.” 

“Don’t talk like that.” Finn reprimanded, “things like that will make you more of a suspect.” Rey growled at him. 

“He’s right, Rey.” 

“He’s right, Rey.” She mocked. “I do not appreciate being suspect just because I’m smart and interested in murder. Oh, I also like how  _ professional  _ your boss was, Finn. He implied that I was insane.” 

“I know,” Finn put his head in his hands. “Listen, Rey. I can’t really control this, but we have other things to worry about right now. The number of arsonist activity in the area has risen greatly, and we haven’t gotten all the accounts. I assume one of them would be safe by now though so would you like to come with me.” She nodded. “You can come only if you calm down though.”

* * *

 

Rey loved it when she heard the story of these victims on her way over to the house, because it was always funny how much she honestly didn’t care about them. Especially after Finn told her that the first victim was a priest from a church where boys went missing regularly. “Is he dead?” Kylo beat her to the punch. 

“Yes,” 

Both Rey and Kylo started snickering when Rey said, “Good.” 

“It’s not fun to joke about murder,” Kylo burst out into laughter, and that made Rey start laughing too. “I hate the both of you.” Finn said. Kylo rolled his eyes. 

“You wouldn’t be anywhere without us.” 

“Sure,” 

The house was large, none of it had been completely engulfed in fire, but the body of the priest was there no longer. There was a dark shadow next to the fireplace, but no other sign of him. It had to be impossibly hot for him to be completely incinerated as such. “I need a drink,” Rey said. 

“I have tea bags,” Kylo whispered to her. 

“What?” 

“I have tea bags, do you want tea?” 

“Kylo—”

“I doubt that the tea kettle was part of this, do you want tea or not?” He was serious. She nodded and he disappeared. Finn hadn’t seemed to pay attention, and Rey walked forward to examine the place.

* * *

 

“Wow,” She said. It smelled so bad. It seemed like every piece of evidence had been completely wiped clean from the living room. “Um… I can’t get anything from this.” She was looking around. There was nothing. No sign of forced entry, nothing of the sort. 

“What are you saying.” 

“I’m saying this looks like self immolation or nothing here is indicating anything I just don’t know.” She shook her head, going upstairs. 

“Rey, I don’t think that’s cleared for safety.” She didn’t care. Upstairs, she found his quarters. It was all slightly dusted over by ash, but there she could see things more clearly. The window was broken, but the glass had shattered inwards. There was the point of entry, she looked over to his wardrobe. There was a pair of pants and a shirt that had been shoved into the closet. Splotches of blood were all over them. 

There it was. She went back down to tell Finn everything and told them to be careful as they went over there, “The point of entry was his bedroom, killed by knife. Clothes left in the closet and then he was dragged down here before he was lit on fire.” Finn nodded, sending men up there and talking to a few other people. Rey returned to the living room where Kylo sat with two cups of tea on the ashen table. She laughed. “You really weren’t kidding.” Kylo shook his head and handed her a tea cup he’d stolen from the cupboard. She drank a little and made a face. 

“It’s bad isn’t it?” 

“Tastes like dead.” 

“I know.” 

Finn walked into the room, sighing when he saw the both of them drinking tea. “Oh my god, will you two stop? You’re going to get me fired.” 

With that he walked out of the parlour and let them be. 


	14. Annoyance

Fifteen houses later and they came up with only one conclusion, this organisation was a lot bigger than they thought it was. Dismantling it was going to be a bit of a problem. Rey and Kylo had taken a separate carriage home and Kylo had that warm feeling in his heart looking at her again.  _ Why now?  _ He wondered to himself. 

“It’s getting cold out,” 

“Yes, that generally does happen in December.” 

“Do you know what else happens in December?” He asked. It was the first time he had really thought about it, but he was excited about Christmas. Kylo had a reputation of overthinking gifts when he actually had someone to give them too. He always managed to get something that would pull at a person’s heartstrings in just the right way, and part of him got off on it. Rey rolled her eyes as they rode back to the apartment. 

“People die of hypothermia?” 

“No! Well —” Rey smirked “—that wasn’t what I meant. Christmas!” 

“Oh yes,” That was rather unenthusiastic. 

“What do you mean, oh yes?” 

“I mean, yes Christmas happens in December… How very observant of you, Kylo.” The sarcasm was just about killing him. 

“I mean, aren’t you excited? And—what do you want for Christmas?” Rey laughed. 

“I don’t celebrate Christmas.” She said. 

“What?” 

“Never had anybody to celebrate it with. Rose isn’t Christian and neither am I, plus I’ve always been busy so—” Kylo felt something pulling at his heart as he listened to her talk about it. 

“Now I have to get you something,” 

“I don’t need anything.” She insisted. He grimaced, getting out of the carriage with her and heading up towards his flat. His mother was up there cleaning.

“Mother, tell Rey she’s getting something for Christmas.” 

“You’re getting something for Christmas.” Leia said. She was disinterested in whatever argument they were having. 

“Kylo, I do not need anything. I’m fine where I am, okay? Don’t get me anything.” He was silent as Rey went back to her room, but just as she was about to open the door, a smirk came across his face. 

“I’m getting you something,” Rey rolled her eyes closing the door behind her. That put a bemused look on Leia’s face. “She’s never had a Christmas before,” 

“Uh oh,” 

“What?” 

“I can see what’s happening. You’re going to freak out about getting this girl a present because you like her and are too scared to court her—”

“— _ Mother!”  _

“Ah, I’m right.” She said tiredly. 

“She’s a friend.” 

“A friend that lives in close proximity with you and spends every waking minute of the day with you.” 

“I don’t see what that’s supposed to mean,” He lowered his voice, praying to god that Rey couldn’t hear his mother right now. “I just want to get her a good gift, what do you think she’d like?” 

“You think that girl talks to me? That’s funny. When you’re gone she just plays violin or stays in her room. I think without you she wouldn’t go out much.” This was going to be a lot harder than he thought it was going to be, but Kylo was ready for a challenge.

* * *

 

 

It was five in the morning when Rey was woken up by Kylo and Finn. “What is it?” 

“Poisoning, come on. It’ll be fun!” Rey grimaced but got up, getting dressed and heading outside where the two of them were waiting. 

“Did you even sleep?” She asked Kylo. 

“When do I?” He clapped his hands together and put his coat on. “It’s nearly freezing outside.” Rey followed suit, putting her coat on as they walked down the stairs. It seemed that now Kylo thought it was a good time to mention Christmas. “Finn, are you coming here for Christmas this year?” 

“Of course,” Finn said. 

“You come here for Christmas.” 

“It’s the only time that he pretends that he cares about me.” Finn told Rey sarcastically. 

“Rey’s never had a Christmas.” Kylo told Finn stiffly as they walked out into the cold. Rey cursed under her breath, both at Kylo being so persistent and the wind. 

“You’ve never had a Christmas?” Finn raised an eyebrow. Rey nodded. “Oh god, you shouldn’t have told him that.” They all piled into the carriage and Rey nodded again, sighing. 

“I know. I figured that out too late.”

“He’s going to force me to go through every shop in London until he insists that he has the perfect gifts for you.” 

“Don’t torture him like that, Kylo. It’s inhumane.” 

“I’m getting you gifts and that is the end of the discussion.” And just like that he won. Rey hated it.

* * *

 

 

Four men dead, and this time it was very conveniently Christmas themed. Kylo thought it amusing that no matter how much Rey wanted to avoid it, it was every where. Rey was looking over the mistletoe that was sprinkled over the four pale corpses that had been left right in front of an alleyway—not even in an alleyway—just right in front of it. “This is going to be a long three weeks until Christmas, isn’t it?” 

Kylo nodded and Rey rolled her eyes. 

He couldn’t help but stare on in both amusement and awe, staring at Rey.  _ Wonderful.  _ He thought to himself,  _ she’s just wonderful. _


	15. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

 

The corpses were of course men who had been convicted of serial killings or serial rapings, Rey had recognised most of their faces almost instantly. It looked like they had been dead for a few days at least, and someone dumped them outside of the shop for them to be found. Rey finished up her deductions about the bodies and headed home with Kylo, tiredly. He didn’t speak, in fact he looked like he was avoiding her gaze completely. “You okay?” She asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just tired.” His hands seemed to trembling. Rey chocked it up to him being cold, although he probably wouldn’t admit it. “Was just… thinking…” He trailed off, looking down at the cobblestone beneath their feet.

“Careful, don’t hurt yourself.” She laughed.

“Oh, now that was mean.” He rolled his eyes, but smiled. Rey didn’t know what it was about that smile that made it the most endearing thing in the world. Maybe it was because he didn’t offer it to many people. She was glad that he offered it to her. “I was just thinking about what to get you for Christmas,” Rey groaned.

“You don’t have to get me anything.” She told him. “So please stop stressing about it.”

“I thought we already agreed that I was going to get you presents and I was going to stress about it.” He said. “Besides, you’ve never celebrated a Christmas before. So I think that you should just let me get you something. That way you can see what it’s really like.” Rey couldn’t help but smile. He was in such a good mood and that put her in a good mood. “Ah there it is,” He said. Rey cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “That smile. I’d like to see that Christmas day.”

“That is sweet,” she told him, “really it is. I just don’t see why you’re so adamant about doing this. Either way I would be content spending a quiet Christmas with you—”

* * *

 

 _Did she really just say that?_ Kylo thought to himself. “—and your mother.” His heart slowed down a little as they walked back to the flat together. God, he needed to pull himself together. He was making a mess in his mind that he didn’t really know how to contain. They got back to the flat and Rey yawned. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kylo.”

By the time that tomorrow rolled around, he had already enlisted the help of Finn to help go Christmas shopping for her. “You realise that you know way more about her than I do.” Finn said grumpily. “This is not how I wanted to spend my time off duty.”

“Boohoo,” Kylo said, entering a lady’s clothing shop. “We’re getting her presents, and you’re going to hold the bags. That’s the deal.”

“You better get me something good this year,” Finn mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah. Come on, it’s shopping time.”

* * *

 

When Rey woke up, Kylo wasn’t there, and his mother was making breakfast. “Where’s Kylo?” She asked.

“He went out,” Leia said. Rey nodded, instinctively heading over to her violin. There seemed to be nothing else to do at the moment. She was about to start playing when his mother set down some tea and a couple of biscuits for her. She could feel that there was something Leia wanted to say. So she waited. “Are you going to play?”

“You want something,” Rey turned to Leia promptly, watching her with intensity. The woman was more quick witted than she would ever let on.

“I just want to figure something out,” She said.

“That’s oddly cryptic.”

“Don’t be so defensive, Rey. It’s nothing of vast importance, you can go back to your playing.” Rey turned back to the window, resting her violin on her shoulder when curiosity got the best of her. She put her violin down again. “I’m not used to you being in here when I’m playing, what do you want?”

Leia smirked, “I told you nothing of vast importance.”

“You still want to figure something out and you’re staring at me and frankly that makes me paranoid because I feel like you hold back a lot more than you let on. So tell me what you want so we can get this awkward conversation over with and I can go back to writing another song.”

“Another song?”

“For your son, for Christmas.” Leia smiled when she heard that. “To be honest I’m not much for giving material gifts, I find that music is much more of a sentimental thing. Plus expressing emotions verbally or through gifts isn’t really the thing I’m best at but since Kylo is so _insistent…_ ”

“I wanted to find out why you’ve managed to bring my son out of shell so much,” She told her. Rey didn’t know quite what she meant by that. “Because, dear, if you don’t mind me saying this— you are a bit of a shut in yourself. Then I realised something. It’s not just you. He brings you out of your shell as well, and I’m just grateful that you came into his life. I don’t know where he would be without you.” She stood up and left, leaving Rey in silence. _What was she supposed to do with that information?_

* * *

 

Kylo had settled on three different dresses, a green, a red, and a blue and they were still going. “Come on, don’t you think this is enough for her.”

“No,” Kylo said promptly.

“I’m starving and have to shop for other people so—”

“—I’ll get you food and relieve you of your duties if you help me for at least another hour. I’m getting her some books next, and then we’re going to buy her some things for her violin.” He was still looking for that perfect present, and he wasn’t sure what it was. What would he give to a woman so perfect?

God, he didn’t know. “I don’t know how I put up with you,” Finn muttered. Frankly, Kylo didn’t know how he put up with him either.

* * *

 

Things went away when Rey was writing music, and they all disappeared when she was playing it as well. Everything seemed to zero to one mindset, painting a story that she wasn’t quite able to voice when she was talking. She believed some people called that an artistic outlet of sorts, but Rey just called it communication. As she was stringing together notes in a way that she thought most described Kylo.

Words couldn’t really describe him, she found out. There was something inherently foreign about him that always intrigued Rey. Maybe it was how he valued her opinion? Rey wasn’t quite sure what it was exactly.

As she wrote, small memories seemed to play in her head. The first time they met — _god, how long ago that felt._ How he had always made her feel so important… It was something no man had ever done for her before. And then there were all those other moments. All those moments that he had been her emotional support. When Jyn died, he was there to comfort her. When she told him a small snippet of her past, he was there for her. He didn’t care that she had lied to him. Why hadn’t he cared about that? She may have never known. This man left her confused in more ways than one. She would try and sort it out through her music, maybe that would help her figure him out.

* * *

 

_Rey was finally talking again, and the first thing that she really asked Jyn for were all the newspaper’s mentions of this girl that was supposedly at the same orphanage that Rey and Rose were at. Rose was ecstatic to help too, glad that her friend was finally back from whatever mental vacation she had been on._

_ So Jyn had gotten her every newspaper she could find, and Rose and Rey scoured over them together.  _

_ The thing was that neither Rey nor Rose seemed to know who this girl was, she wasn’t anyone they remembered in the orphanage and they remembered everything.  _

_ She could have been lying about being at the orphanage in the first place, Rey thought. But then she remembered the reports of how badly burned she had been, and a wave of guilt ran over her as she realised that there was a chance that she was actually in the orphanage at the time Rose and Rey had set fire to it.  _

_ If that girl was from there, it would make sense that she would be out to get Rey.  _

_ It would make a lot of sense. _

* * *

 

When Kylo got home Rey was nowhere to be seen. “Rey?” He called out. There was some bumping around in her room.

“Yes? One minute.”

“No don’t come out, I just want to make sure you’re somewhere where you can’t see.”

“Ooh, did you buy me something already?” She said with mock excitement. It was more like multiple somethings, but still. 

“Yes, and you’ll completely ruin it if you come out of your room. So you must stay there, okay?” Finn started helping Kylo usher parcels filled with some very expensive things into his room. 

“Kylo, you better not be getting me multiple things.” Rey shouted from her room.  _ How did she know?  _ “I’ve heard you shuffle back and forth several times, it’s not that hard to figure out after that.” Oh. “How am I supposed to top whatever you give me when you’re getting me multiple things?” 

“By… being a nice friend? That’s gift enough.” He just had to talk until they got everything into the room. Finally they did, and Finn ran back down the stairs. “You can come out now.” 

“Thank you,” She came out of her room, a smile on her face. Kylo looked down, trying his hardest not to blush. “You are probably the best friend I could ask for, you know that?”  _ Gods, her smile was so radiant.  _

“Uh… thank you.” Kylo felt like kicking himself in the shin. He was such an idiot.

* * *

 

Finn hadn’t told Kylo about the investigation against Rey when they had been shopping for her, but he was beginning to wish that he had. It hadn’t been long before people had started to suspect her, despite the fact that a lot of the evidence did not match up. Like the fact that she was basically a shut in when she wasn’t with Kylo or solving crimes, and that made it nearly impossible to place her at a bunch of crime scenes when she was nearly almost at Kylo’s flat. 

Rey was by no means, helping their suspicions, though. She was smart, and when a woman was smart, men started to feel threatened by her. That was just a simple rule. Finn had managed to make his way into the investigation team in it’s budding youth, and had managed to dissuade most people of Rey being guilty. Everyone except for the man that was running it. They had poured over records and had found almost nothing. No birth certificate, no record of her ever existing, until now. Finn felt nauseous as he read the registry for an orphanage in Takodana had burned down. 

Rey Kenobi was one of the girls in the orphanage. 

This was something he couldn’t explain away.  

He had to warn Rey of this, or Kylo. Someone. 

He couldn’t leave yet. He was sure that they had had someone following him. 

He would warn them. 

Soon. 


	16. Eve

It had seemed that whatever criminals were out there had stopped their murders to celebrate christmas. It was something that Kylo was grateful for, Rey not so much. She had helped decorate for Christmas, and did almost everything that Leia had told her to do. 

They had all stopped on Christmas Eve, Leia had gone to lay down but Kylo and Rey were still very much awake. Kylo had found a copy of one of the newer Christmas tales, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. “Rey?” 

“Yes?” 

“This may sound stupid, but could you come here for a second.” Rey did, sitting in the seat opposite of his. He leaned forward in his seat. “Have you ever read this book?” Rey glanced at the title and then shook her head no. “Right, erhm, okay. So when I was a kid my mother used to read me different Christmas stories on Christmas Eve, and I wanted to give this one a try but I didn’t want to read it by myself—” He felt like perhaps he was making a fool out of himself. That Rey would think it was childish, what he wanted to do, but instead, she nodded and smiled. 

“Do you want to read it to me or shall we take turns?” She asked. 

“I hadn’t thought of that.” He admitted. “Take turns, perhaps?” Rey nodded, and he began to read. It was quite a calming sensation, having Rey there beside him. He had read the first chapter, and then gave Rey the book, she had read the second aloud too. 

It was now that Kylo was reminded of just how much he enjoyed hearing her talk. 

She was enchanting when she was focused on doing something, and even more when she spoke. The fire crackled in the fire place behind her and the light played upon her face in a way that made her seem almost angelic. 

It was in that moment that Kylo fully realised that his mother was right, he did in fact have feelings for her, and something about that terrified him. She finished the second chapter and gave the book back to him. He started reading, but his mind was on something else completely. He had feelings for Rey Kenobi, and everything about her. The way her eyes shone as she listened to him, as she watched his mannerisms, her intellect, her beauty. It hurt him thinking about it. 

There was no way that she would ever feel the same way about him, he mused. She had had one husband before him, and she didn’t even cry when he died. She didn’t seem to care at all. Rey was a practical woman who seemed to care more about catching criminals than anything else, and whilst he appreciated that, it wasn’t hard to see that she would only laugh at any suggestion of other feelings towards her. Even if she wasn’t opposed to such silly things, he doubted he would ever have a chance with a woman so beautiful. Rey was, definitely, much more attractive than he looked or felt. He shook those insecurities away and listened to Rey read. 

They read into the night, Kylo watching Rey, trying his best to conceal his panic as she read. He could feel himself caught in something and spiralling down further and further as he listened to her. 

What was this? Lust? Obsession? Just infatuation? No, it was deeper than that. It was admiration coupled with other things that Kylo had never felt before, and it scared him to no end. 

Finally, it was time for them both to sleep. Rey got up, yawning, and retired. Kylo put all the presents he had bought for everyone under the tree, and then went to bed himself.  _ I am such an idiot,  _ he told himself. Such an idiot for wanting someone that he could not have. 

He hoped to god that this would pass, he was too embarrassed at himself to think of what might happen if it didn’t.

* * *

 

Rey was lying in her bedroom, thoughts keeping her awake. For a while, she thought of the little girl, Violet. Hoping that she had gotten to Rose’s and that the girl was taking as much care of her as she could. She was alive, she reasoned. The girl was just as smart as Rey had been as a child. 

She had no reason to worry there. 

Then her thoughts turned to tomorrow, to Christmas, to Kylo Ren. It would be the first time that she had ever really celebrated it, and she wasn’t sure what to expect. She hoped Kylo wouldn’t mind that she wrote him something instead of  actually buying something for him, but in the end, she had always thought that writing music for someone was the most sincere gift that you could ever give someone. Then her attention turned to how Kylo had been acting this evening. 

She was sure that he was only nervous about how she was going to react to the gifts he had gotten her, but still. Something about it was off. He seemed nervous, every time she had passed the book to him and they nearly touched, his hands had started trembling. 

It was just ever so slightly, and the normal person might not have noticed it, but Rey definitely had. She had decided not to mention it to him, but she still wondered just why he was acting like that. 

Rey couldn’t figure it out, and that frustrated her, so she had resigned herself to going to bed. 

Maybe she could figure it out tomorrow. 


	17. Christmas

Christmas was possibly Kylo’s favorite day of the year, but now he just felt nervous. He had woken up extremely early in the morning to help his mother with cooking and made sure all of the decorations were just so. “Mother, why did you put mistletoe above the entrance to my flat?” He asked. Leia didn’t say a thing, only put a finished pie on the table and started walking back down stairs.

Rey had woken up when everything was done and Finn had come in almost an hour later, with a man behind him. “I hope you didn’t mind,” He said when he was inside. “I brought my partner.” No one minded, in fact. That must’ve calmed both Finn and the other man down. Kylo was too busy worrying about everything else.

He knew that Rey would be much more pleasant company though, so he didn’t worry about it too much.

* * *

 

Finn had brought his partner, like Rey had suggested to him. He was quite attractive, Rey thought. It was no wonder why Finn had fallen for him in the first place. She had gotten up, “Hi, I’m Rey Kenobi. And you?”

“Poe Dameron,” He said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” He sat down on the couch, next to Finn. The two of them looked quite nervous.

“Oh really? Nothing bad I hope,”

“No, all quite good.” He said, “He said that you were the smartest woman he had ever met.” A smile played at Rey’s lips.

“Really?”

“And that you were the first person he told about… us.” Rey’s smile grew a bit brighter after that.

“Well I think that you must make Finn very happy, and that is really what matters isn’t it?” Poe grew a little more comfortable by the moment, and Finn as well.

“I don’t think I have ever met someone as accepting as you,”

“I have no reason not to be accepting, Mr. Dameron. I’m a woman who somehow managed to be working in crime, something that never happens. I know a lot about people not accepting you, and that is why I try and accept everyone.” Poe nodded again, and Leia called everyone to dinner.

It was a great dinner, as Rey first noticed, there was breads, casseroles, and pies. 

Finn and Poe sat together, Leia at the end of the table and Kylo and Rey together as well. It seemed that Kylo was sitting further away from her than what Leia had originally intended, though.

Rey had never tasted such beautiful things as Kylo and Leia’s cooking. The pies were fluffy and delicious, and Leia had managed to make everything flavorful, despite the fact that most British people made their things dull and flavorless.

Rey was done very quickly, having to remind Leia that she didn’t have much of a stomach in the first place, and that she would definitely come back for more after they were done with their Christmas presents and whatever else was entailed in Christmas.

She hadn’t expected everything to be as nice as it was, they sang Christmas carols, and Rey stayed silent as they did. The singing was awfully bad, save Poe, and Rey found herself mentally taking notes of the carols lyrics so she could remember them later. 

Then it was time for the gifts, and Rey felt tense for the first time in a while. Finn opened his gifts from Kylo, Leia, and Poe. A new gun, a very nice leather bound journal that looked like it cost a lot, and a golden ring band from Poe. Rey watched Poe propose, and it was possibly the sweetest thing that she had ever witnessed. Then Leia opened hers, a new dress, a few books, and a few puzzles as well. She loved them all. Then came for the time for Rey to open her gifts. There were multiple ones from Kylo and one from Leia and Finn as well. Kylo requested that everyone else leave the room when Rey opened her gifts from him.

Rey wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t question it either. “I hope you didn’t mind because I did, in fact, get you a lot of things because I wasn’t really sure what to get you. To be honest, you might hate them all but I just wanted to give these to you alone, so—”

“—Kylo?”

“Yes?”

“Calm down.” He nodded and let her pick up the first parcel. He had taken extreme lengths to wrap them in a way that she wouldn’t be able to guess what they were before she opened them, and Rey thought that that was hilarious. She opened  the first gift. A dress that looked more fine than anything else she owned.

A deep dark green color. “This is beautiful,” She said. “It must’ve cost a lot.” She looked up at him. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Kylo didn’t say anything as Rey opened another. A variance of new music. 18 new songs, some supplies to tend to her violin, and some new strings. The only really practical gift that he had gotten her. She thanked him for the gifts and then went to the third gift. There was four gifts, and the third was possibly the biggest of all of them. It was a rather large chemistry set with multiple books on human anatomy, and Rey was rather excited about that one. She spent a few minutes looking at all the contents and how Kylo had picked each book with such care. She started to worry if the song that she had written him was not enough compared to anything else she had gotten him.

Then came the fourth present. Rey opened it to find an old copy of Pride and Prejudice. His favorite book. “It was the first copy I ever owned.” He explained. She opened the cover and a small piece of parchment with neat, curly, handwriting fell onto her lap.

She picked it up.

A note from Kylo.

She read it quietly to herself.

 

_My Dearest, Rey_

_To be honest, I am not quite sure how to write this to you, but I want to say that I am more than grateful to have your company. It wasn’t long ago that we met and I already feel that you are of great value to me. Both as an investigative partner and a great friend. It is impossible to tell you how much appreciation I have for you in just the English vocabulary, but I hope this somewhat gets the point across._

_Sincerely,_

_Kylo_

 

This was the gift that ended up hitting her the most. A smile dawned her face as she looked down on the book, imagining all the times he read it, hanging on every word like the romantic he was. She got up and as Kylo began to ask, “Did you like them?” She gave him a hug. “Oh, what’s this for?”

“For a great Christmas,” She replied. It was awkward, at first, but he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug in return. She broke free first, blushing. “It kind of puts my gift to shame though,”

“What was it?”

* * *

 

Rey went to her room and got her violin, and then some sheet music that she had written down a bunch of notes on.

Kylo’s eyes widened as she began to play. He wasn’t sure why she thought that his gifts had put this to shame, because her playing was the most beautiful thing in the world.

    It was different than the first song that she had written him, this one more intimate, and oddly sentimental. Some of the notes had an almost flirtatious undertone that Rey had never displayed in her personality before.

    It was something that was gentle, and yet deeply intense at the same time, and when Rey was done, she set her violin down as everyone else came back inside clapping. Her blushing worsened. “Beautiful.”

    “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you play so well Rey, and that’s saying something.”

    Kylo hadn’t said anything before realising that he was leaving Rey hanging, waiting for reaction. “That was quite amazing.”

    “You liked it?”

    “I loved it.” He offered her a smile, damning himself mentally for being so awkward. It would be the death of him. That seemed to be enough for her though as they went on with their festivities. Finn and Poe and Leia drank, but Kylo and Rey had both refused alcohol.

    When everything was mellow and people were starting to go home, people began leaving, and the most mortifying thing in the world happened. Leia shouted, “You two are under the mistletoe!” 

Both Finn and Poe turned back at the bottom of the stairs. Rey’s eyes widened, and the girl froze. She looked just as mortified as Kylo felt. He felt the heat of everyone’s eyes on him. 

“Come on,” Finn coaxed, “Kiss.” 

Kylo couldn’t move, and Rey stepped out from under the mistletoe. There was a collective groan and Kylo found himself relieved. 

“Bye Finn, bye Poe.” Rey said. They took the hint. Kylo went back into his apartment, grumbling to himself. He was going to have a talk with his mother later. 

    


	18. Gone

 

The murders had started up around New Years, except, this time they were different. 

The fire—the trademark of Vaylin’s murders— wasn’t there. Instead, these were the work of a butcher, someone completely different. Rey reckoned that the woman was just trying to throw Rey off, and if that was the case,  _ it wasn’t going to work.  _

It smelled awful in the room. Three women, two children, and a man bludgeoned to death beyond recognition. For the first time in a while, Rey’s stomach turned whilst she examined the dead bodies and the evidence of the murders. “Whoever did this wants us to think they’re clueless, and a woman who doesn’t have much of a stomach for murders.” 

“That’s what I was thinking,” Kylo said. 

Finn of course, asked them to explain. 

“Look at the pattern of the stab wounds, they’re seemingly at random right?” Kylo told him. 

“But, if you look closer you can see that all of the stab wounds went in exactly the same, each wound is the same size.” Rey picked up his explanation, “and you can see here that there is stab wounds in the neck, head, and other places that a woman wouldn’t usually go to.” 

“How do you know a woman wouldn’t go to those places?” Finn asked. 

“Because, the first place I would go for is the heart.” The way she said that came out more icy than she had intended it to. “I’m saying we’re looking for a man about Kylo’s height,” 

“Forty three,” Kylo said.

“Forty five.” 

“Is that a bet?” Kylo smirked, and Rey laughed. 

“You know I would win that bet.” They both knew that she would win that bet. Finn rolled his eyes and they set out again. Kylo was silent on the ride home, but these days he usually was. Rey wondered if she had done anything wrong. They went back up into their flat, Rey thinking to herself about almost everything. 

This current murder, the investigation into her, Kylo. There were too many things on her mind, that she didn’t hear Kylo say, “Rey, are you okay?” until he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Come back,” He said. She shook her head, paying attention to him again. 

“Sorry, just… stressed. It seems that every time we need more evidence in order to chase Vaylin another killer gets in the way.” Kylo took his hand off her shoulder and went to sit down. 

“We’ll catch her eventually, don’t worry.”

“That’s not good enough,” Rey said, “Everyday that she’s free another person dies.” Kylo looked visibly irritated at that comment. 

“Yes, Rey. I know that, but at the moment it’s not really our problem.” 

“What?” 

“I just mean that the person we have to get right now, is the person that could possibly lead us to Vaylin. We can’t take down the overlord of a crime syndicate in a month. Sometimes this stuff takes years.” Rey sighed, hanging her head in her hands. All of the sudden she felt very, very, tired. 

“I just… I hate  _ not  _ catching her.” She didn’t tell Kylo of the investigation into her, or of the fact that she knew for a fact that she was going to be framed if she didn’t catch Vaylin in time. She know that he would panic and act irrationally. “Can you blame me?” 

“No, I get it, but sometimes you don’t catch them. It happens.”

* * *

 

 

Rey didn’t speak to him much for the next day and a half. 

_ She was rationalizing things,  _ he figured. Still, the notion of not catching the woman they had been after for so long eats at her, consumes all of her thoughts until she realised that she was completely ignoring her surroundings.  “Rey, are you okay?” Kylo asked. They were walking along the street, Kylo had told her something about a new bookstore she might like, she was holding a bunch of books on the human body now. 

“Huh?” 

“You looked stressed, I was just asking if you were okay.” Before she could answer that question, the building behind her crumpled to the ground in one bright, hot eruption of fire. There was nothing left of the building left afterwards. Rey looked up. Kylo had her with one arm around her waist, one arm protecting her head. 

He blushed, and let go of her when he was sure that there was nothing to be afraid of. “How far away is the flat?” 

“Two blocks away,”

“Could you drop off the books?” 

“Are you sure that you’ll be okay?” 

“Yes, I will.” He nodded and took the books from her and went running. 

The sight in front of her was a horror to say the least, people running out of the wreckage of the building on fire, people trying to fan the flames, douse everything in water, but Rey wasn’t looking at the victims of the fire, they weren’t the ones that mattered. Not really. There was someone who started the fire that would have to get away from the crime scene, and for once she was right there when it happened.

That’s when she saw it, the small dash of a dirtied bridesmaids dress. Rey started running in the direction of the woman who was fleeing the scene. 

The cobbled streets were not very forgiving to her heels, and she ended up abandoning her shoes a few streets after she started chasing the woman.  _ She could get her,  _ Rey thought. It was the screams of a girl that brought her out of her state. 

Those screams were the screams of one girl, Violet.

* * *

 

Finn was alerted of the fire about an hour after it had gone out. He’d been told to go investigate it, and then told to tell the department if Rey Kenobi was doing anything  _ less than trustworthy.  _ If he was less than respectable, he would’ve told them to shove a baton up their you know whats, but that would result in nothing good. So he was resigned to saying yes and heading to Ren’s flat, but when he got there neither Rey nor Ren was there. A bunch of books laid near the entrance, and there were scratches in the doorway. 

“Rey? Ren?” Finn called out.

No answer. “Miss Solo?” Then a panicked reply.

Finn rushed upstairs to see Leia laying near the couch, propped up. She was bleeding from her forehead, looking dazed. Still Kylo and Rey were nowhere to be found. “What happened?” He asked. 

“They took my son.” She said.

* * *

* * *

 

Rey looked to her left to see Rose and Violet in an alleyway, covered in ash. Rose was bleeding a lot, and Violet seemed to be trying her hardest to keep Rose awake. Rey forgot about the woman she was chasing almost immediately. 

“Oh my gods,” Rey rushed towards them. “What happened here?” 

“We were caught in the explosion,” Violet said. “I don’t know what happened but I think she has a concussion.” Rey caught Rose and brought her down into a sitting position. 

“Rose?” She asked. “Rose can you hear me?” Rose swallowed hard and then nodded. “Good, we’re going to get you to a doctor okay?” 

“Right,” 

“Okay, come on. We can do this.”

* * *

 

Everything was a blur of veils and flickering candle light. Kylo couldn’t remember much. Just pain. Immense pain. He’d gotten back to the house and felt something sharp go into his neck. Heard his mother scream, and then everything went black. He came in and out of consciousness a few times before he woke up some place cold and wet. 

He looked around wildly, but saw no one. “Rey,” his breath came out as clouds. 

“She isn't here to save you.” A voice said. Someone was in the same room. In the dark. “And she won't be. This place is impossible to find, even for a girl of her prowess.” It was the voice of a woman. German. Kylo’s blood went cold. 

“You underestimate Rey,” He said. “Now can you tell me why you so rudely interrupted my day to bring me here. You could've just sent a letter if you were planning on threatening me.”

“I wasn't planning on torturing you, Mr. Solo.”

“I don't go by that name.”

“Ben,”

“Please don't use that name,”

“Oh, did I hit a touchy subject? Is there a reason you abandoned your own family name?”

“What were you planning on doing if you weren't going to torture me?”

“I wanted us to come to an understanding.”  _ That sounds a lot like she's about to torture me,  _ Kylo thought to himself. “Because it seems that you think I am the leader of some sort of terrorist organization. That is not the case.”

“What do you call an organization that has intent on doing harm to a political sphere?”

“An organization with a vision. Do you not believe that women should be given equal rights to men?”

“I do. I just don't think murdering people will get through to a bunch of bullheaded plebeians who already believe women are inferior anyway.” The woman in the distance chuckled a bit. 

“I will make them understand,” She said. “And I will make you understand too. Even if it kills you.” 

“I haven’t done anything wrong to any woman in my life. In fact the only two women I know personally are Rey Kenobi and my mother.” 

“We know this, Ren. This doesn’t absolve you of benefitting from the system.” Oh that was some bullshit. 

“It also doesn’t mean that I’m inherently evil.” This was going to go on for a while, and Kylo knew  that somewhere in the midst of all of it, he would say something that would get him hurt. Hopefully Rey already knew that he was missing and would get started on finding his whereabouts. 

“I never said you were inherently evil, just an idiot. You see, one of our goals is for the equality of women but that is not the only motivator, as your precious Rey has stated herself. There is another reason that I have planned all of this. It is revenge.” 

“Revenge? Revenge on who? Every man that’s ever done something that’s wronged a woman? Listen, believe me when I say that I have no sympathy for a man that violates a woman’s body, but if your goal is to stop that from happening, your fight is never going to end.” 

“Yes,” The woman said. “You are right about that,” She came out from the darkness. Wearing all black. Kylo still couldn’t see her face. “It’s a good thing that isn’t one of my motivators.” 

“Than what is it?” Kylo wished he wasn’t bound. If he wasn’t, he could reach up and yank the black veil off of her face. “Whom do you seek to inflict revenge upon?” The woman laughed. 

“Isn’t the answer to that question obvious? Or do you not know? Has she not told you about everything she’s done in the past?” Kylo’s heart beat quickened as the woman’s face got closer to him. Hot breath whispering in his ear, “I seek revenge upon Rey Kenobi, for the sins of her past. And she is not going have it easy, believe me. Especially after what I am going to do to you.” 


	19. Better Not Miss

“I need you to repeat what happened, Miss Kenobi. And without the snark, you need to tell me everything that happened that night and do not spare any details.” 

“I don’t get why I need to do that when I have already answered all of your questioning, Sir.” She hadn’t bothered to remember the name of the man interrogating her, he was of high rank, higher than Finn. That was all she knew, but she’d almost immediately decided that he was an idiot. 

“You have to answer it because you have been purposefully belligerent this whole time, and I require honesty and sincerity in this report.” 

“That’s stupid. Shouldn’t you just be able to tell if I was lying or not? Or you could ask Finn to confirm my story, couldn’t you?” 

“Finn is no longer on this case, due to personal interest.” 

“Right, of course. That doesn’t mean he’s not a reliable source, so you can ask him to verify my story, if you still have any questions when you’re done you can come back to me and I will clarify for you. Until then, you’re wasting my time. I have a friend at home who’s been badly injured and I need to get home to him as soon as possible.” 

“Sorry to inconvenience you, miss Kenobi, but you assaulted three men and killed a woman. So you’re going to be here for a while so that we knew for sure that all that you’re saying is true. And since Mr. Ren isn’t here to verify the story himself that makes our story even harder.”

* * *

 

Earlier that day. 

 

Finn had stopped Rey outside of Kylo’s flat when she started walking back looking for him, and started talking fast. “Rey, Kylo’s been taken and it’s been a couple of hours, we’ve been-” 

“What?” 

“Kylo’s been taken,” She didn’t listen to the rest of whatever he was saying, immediately going inside and looking at the place. Scratches on the door, broken glass, blood on the books that she’d asked him to put up for her earlier. 

“Where’s Leia?” 

“Upstairs.” 

Rey ran upstairs and before saying anything she said, “Talk.” 

“What?” 

“He’s gone, you saw, you’re injured what happened?” Her hands were shaking, temperature elevating, heart rate quickening. Rey believed that she was going into some sort of panic attack, but she wasn’t quite sure, because she’d never had one of those before. So Leia told her what happened. Kylo had run back when the bridesmaids were already in the house. They injected Kylo with something and hit her over the head and left. Leia didn’t see which way they left. “I’m done with you,” 

“Rey, don’t be rude!” Finn said, but Rey was already back down the stairs again, her head going into overdrive.  _ Find Kylo, Find Kylo, Find Kylo, find Kylo. Don’t be an idiot, Rey. You’re smarter than this you should be able to find him within a couple of minutes, come on!  _ Rey looked down at the ground, the treads in the watery cobblestoned main road. There were three main tracks, and that was per usual considering that there was only three cabbies that usually came this way, but also meant that if they used a carriage to transport Kylo to wherever they were keeping him their tracks wouldn’t have been there.

Rey surmised that whomever took him must’ve transported him by foot for quite a while before putting him in a carriage and taking him to the place that he was supposed to be. “Rey,” Finn was talking to her but she hadn’t quite registered it in her mind. She had to think, she had to find him.

_ Whoever took him is going to pay dearly,  _ she decided. And then she shook the thought from her head as she kept walking forwards. She couldn’t put thoughts of revenge in her head right now, not when she had to think of getting him back, if she could get him back.

“Finn verified your story.” The man investigating her said. 

“Fantastic,” Rey clapped her hands together, “can I go now?” He nodded and she got up from the table, heading towards the door that lead out of the interrogation room and towards where she needed and wanted to be, with Kylo Ren. The man stopped her. 

“Miss Kenobi,” 

“Yes, sir?” 

“Don’t think this absolves you from the ongoing investigation on you.” He said. 

“I never said that it did.” She said. “It would take an idiot to think that,” The man straightened and Rey closed the door behind her. Finn was waiting for her.

“Thanks for nearly getting me fired from my job,” He grumbled as they started walking through Scotland Yard.

“Sorry it was either your occupation or Ren, I chose Ren.” 

Finn was silent for a second before he said, “Do you fancy him?” 

“That is really not the right time to ask that question, Finn. Especially after what those women did to him.” 

“Right, it’s just what you did… that’s not something that a friend would do for another friend. That was a crime of passion.” 

“Sure,” Rey rolled her eyes. “Now take me home, I want to be there when Kylo wakes up.” 

“Right,” Finn said. “You totally don’t fancy him at all.” 

“I owe everything to him.” Rey said. “My life, the fact that I have a place to stay.” She swallowed hard, “I’m just worried okay? He lost a lot of blood and-” 

“Rey, he’s going to be fine.” Finn reassured her. 

“Right,” 

Rey closed her eyes and reached forward, building the scene that she saw in front of her more clearly. Kylo walked towards the flat, about to saw the books down when he saw that the door was already open. He pushed it slightly, and walked in. Setting the books down carefully by his side so he’d be ready to attack someone if he needed to. 

Leia screamed and he ran to see what was wrong. He got stuck with a needle and then fainted, was dragged out. Hit his head due to the fact the bridesmaids would struggle with him due to his height. 

They bought him outside but they would have to do it in such a way where he would not be noticed by other people on the streets. 

The fire was their way of course, they used the panic that that had caused in order to transport him. People running away from the fire had fled east, downhill from the fire. They would assume that a man unconscious during such a panic was usual. Rey started heading east as well. 

East twice, and that’s when she hit it. There was a district of abandoned shops that no one went down. Rey went left and down that street. There she found a broken heel, and a piece of frayed fabric from Kylo’s coat. 

“They transported him here.” Rey said. She didn’t realise that no one was there behind her as she made her deductions. They went west, Rey followed a path, and it was very distinctive, creating an almost V shaped pattern as she walked. 

That’s when she found it. 

It was nearly night time by the time that she had gotten there, and she realised that she’d been there before, or at least been some place similar. 

It was an asylum. Or an abandoned building made up to look like an asylum.  _ Someone’s mocking you.  _ She told herself. That’s when Finn and a few other men had finally caught up with her. “He’s in there.” She hissed. 

“How do you know?” 

“I just know, okay? He’s in there, now give me a gun and stay out here like a good boy, I’m going to go get him.” Finn stared at her like she was insane, maybe she was. 

“Rey, you realise you’re talking to a police officer right, that’s my job not your’s.” 

“I want to find him and make sure that he’s okay.” 

Finn sighed and gave her a pistol and his knife. “I’m coming in with you though.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” 

“Rey.” 

“Fine.” She said.

* * *

 

When they got to his flat, Rey immediately went to his bedroom. She ignored everyone’s protests, and pushed past the doctor that told her no. He was alive, for certain, there was a bandage across his face from the large knife wound that had been inflicted upon him. 

Most of all he was awake. She heard someone say that he’d refused all pain medicine, even through the process of stitching up his wound. Rey’s stomach almost turned as she sat by his bed and put her hand in his. “Hey,” She whispered. “It’s me.” 

She could see his eyes wander to meet hers, straining past the pain. The fear and pain in his eyes softened into something different. He didn’t say a thing, buts squeesed at her hand to let her know that it was him. Rey didn’t bother asking him why he would refuse medicine when it could help him. 

It took her all of two minutes to actually get a close look at his arm, at the faint pin pricks from years ago, the sign of a man that had recovered from abusing drugs, most like opioids. Drugs like that were the kinds of drugs that the doctor was offering to him for relief. “Leave,” She said to everyone else. “I don’t think that he wants a lot people in his room right now.” 

Surprisingly, people listened. “Gods,” She whispered. “How long have you been awake?” 

He drummed his fingers against her hand twice. “Two hours?” He nodded slightly, and then Rey said, “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.” She knew what he would say. He would say that she got to him as fast as possible and for that he was grateful, but still. He was in pain because of her incompetence. Tears started streaming down her face as she tried to look away from him. Lamely, Kylo let go of her hand and stretched his hand out. It gently caressed her cheek before it fell down back to his side. “You should sleep.” She said. “I’ll stay here and watch you.” 

The inside of it was definitely an abandoned building, with old things that used to be in storage. They all fanned out in different directions to see what was going on. Within that time Rey had gotten a lamp as well to light her way. 

It didn’t take long for her to see one of the bridesmaids roaming the hallway, and without a second thought she rushed up behind her, sticking Finn’s knife in her back. The woman collapsed without even a scream in her. 

Then she found it. 

Found him. 

For a second she thought he was dead. “Rey look out,” He’d said. That’s when all hell broke loose.

* * *

 

Rey had kept her promise when she’d said that she would stay with him the whole night. Kylo had drifted in and out of consciousness for hours and each time, he saw here there, sitting in her chair still, head on the foot of the bed, asleep. 

He wished he could tell her how much he owed her, he wished he could tell her that it wasn’t her fault, that if she’d found him any later he’d probably be dead. He wished he could tell her something that would soothe her, but he couldn’t bring himself to even open his mouth.

Everything hurt, especially his wound. 

Every vain part of Kylo nagged at him with the thoughts of what he’d look like afterwards, of how he’d never have a chance with Rey after that. 

Most of all he thought of Rey, of what he was certain she’d done. Two people had turned up paralysed after she’d stabbed them in the back trying to get to him. Another woman that claimed to be Vaylin was shot three times and died by immolation. 

They both knew it wasn’t her in the end though. Just some girl with lines in her pocket. 

“Are you okay?” Rey breathed. He didn’t notice she was awake. 

“Yes.” His throat is on fire and voice is gravelly, but he answered. Rey nodded, and laid her head back down. “Tell me if you need something.” 

That night, Rey had trouble sleeping. Each time there was one thing replaying in her head. It was something that Finn had said to her after they’d rescued Kylo. 

“You know that you can’t just do that you know, I know you were mad and that he’s hurt, but Kylo is going to be okay. You can’t just go in there and light some kid on fire because they were told to do something.”

“That something resulted in him nearly bleeding out on a dirty storage room floor.” 

“You’re not the law Rey,”

“Yes, we both know that I’m not the law.” Rey hissed as people started to take Kylo away, “If I was the law, men would be sentenced to death when they rape women and not just given a sodding ten years. If I was the law you would be able to marry Poe in a heartbeat and not be told you’re some sort of secual deviant, do not tell me that the law is perfect Finn because it damn well is not and you know that that girl would’ve gotten off scot free for what she did to him.”

* * *

 

Rey started heading towards to the ambulance cart he was in. Finn stopped her one more time. “What happens when someone decides that you’re the one that needs to be taken down and takes the law into their own hands?” Rey pulled her hand from his, getting in his face for a second. 

“I’ll tell you something Finn,”   _ I would deserve it,  _ she thinks. “They better not miss.” With that she turned her attention back to Kylo.

That scene still echoed in her head as an empty feeling opened in the pit of her stomach.  _ Did she really mean that? Was she prepared to die for this case?  _ She didn’t know. She repressed those thoughts.  _ Kylo’s more important.  _ She thought. 

She would leave all these irrational thoughts for later.


	20. back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So uh this chapter was shit and sorry if no one is reading this anymore but I got ideas for this fic again so I'll be posting another chapter in about a week and a half

Rey had been concerned about Kylo being back on the job so soon, and she would’ve been right. He was still recovering and should have been home, but he had  insisted on going with Rey when Finn had told them about the mess hall full of hanged professors as at a girl’s orphanage. Rey assumed that there had been something on her face that made her seem uneasy, moreso than usual. Rey tried not to think about it as they arrived at the location. It was colder than usual today, threatening to snow, but not quite at that point. “You should’ve stayed home.” She told him.

 

“And miss this?” He tried his best to smile for her. Rey knew better than anyone that he was putting on a show for her though. “I think not.” Rey had yet to smile, her eyes set on Kylo blankly as she looked him up and down. He looked absolutely terrible. He was leaning a certain way in seat to relieve pain in his shoulder and there was a visible tint under his eyes. He hadn’t slept well in a while. Rey knew that. There was more that he wasn’t telling her. His hands shook and his eyes swept from side to side constantly. She remembered back to what he told her about his past, about not wanting to take any drugs because he didn’t want to go down the road of addiction again. He was probably fighting an itch at this very moment.

 

Rey placed a hand on the seat. Finn didn’t notice, he was looking out the window as well, looking very irritable because of the cold. “It’s supposed to be summer soon,” He said. “Why the hell is London so kriffing cold?” 

 

“Because it’s London, not the Americas.” Rey answered tightly. Finn raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer her. Rey glanced back at Kylo, he was looking out the under window, but his hand had fallen on top of hers. He was squeezing it tightly. Not tightly enough to hurt, but enough for Rey to notice.  _ God, he should have stayed home.  _ Rey’s breath was coming out in clouds. “Please tell me we’re going to be there soon, I think that I’m going to die of hypothermia.” 

 

“I told you to dress accordingly,” 

 

“I  _ did. _ ” She growled at Finn.

 

“Why are you so angry with me? What have I done?” 

 

“I don’t appreciate being interrupted when I was taking of an injured friend.” 

 

“I thought that you might enjoy this,” He said, “There was a note addressed specifically to you.” Rey rolled her eyes. The notes had been spotty throughout the most recent murders, easier to figure out and the perpetrators for those crimes had been caught, but none of the higher ups that actually ran the ring were anywhere near being outed or caught. 

 

“What did the note say?” Kylo finally spoke up. 

 

“You’ll have to wait and see. It doesn’t make sense to me. A lot of sayings from the bible. A few book pages with some things circled, other things.” That caught Rey’s attention. They were stepping up their game for something. She wasn’t sure what though. 

 

It seemed to take forever for them to finally arrive at the orphanage. Rey and Kylo got out together. She’d dropped his hand, watching him visibly grimace when her gloved hand left his.  The orphanage was all to similar to the one that she had left. It seemed like a lifetime ago until she stepped onto the ground. It was like entering a never ending bad dream. “Are you okay?” Ren asked her. 

 

“Yes.” Finn lead them to the mess hall, and Rey realized that her head was a mess. She needed to reorganize her thoughts. Focus on the task at hand. “I just don’t want to be here.” 

 

“You seem angrier than usual.”   _ Because I’m scared. I am so scared right now.  _ “You know you can talk to me.”

 

“Not right now though, I need to focus.”

 

“Right. So do I. Feels weird.”

 

Rey didn’t answer him. They had entered the mess hall, and much to Rey’s chagrin, the bodies were dressed in burnt nightgowns. Six bodies hung over each table. Four tables total. Twenty four bodies. Rey had a bad taste in her mouth. “Where’s the note?” She asked. Finn handed it to her. Rey remembered Finn telling her about the bible sayings, but she found that they were clipped up in nonsensical ways, like something that would make sense to a mad woman. A page from a book. A science book that she used to read when she was in the orphanage. “Do you have any ideas about this?” Finn asked. 

 

“Shut up.” Rey really didn’t want to talk about this right now, even if she could say what was going on, she didn’t want to talk about it with Kylo in the room. She had to look at the note, she had to make sense of it.  _ Come on, think Rey. Think. Think.  _ It was at this point in time where Rey wished that she could down a whole bottle of whiskey. She would have to ask Kylo if he had any when she got home.  _ Think, think, think. You need to think Rey, stop being an idiot and think.  _

 

* * *

 

Rey had closed her eyes and started speaking faster than Kylo had ever seen her. At first he hadn’t caught up with what she was saying until she got to where the women came in, how they strung everyone up, and finally she said, “They’re trying to mock me.” In the quietest voice possible. He was sure that Finn didn’t hear that. He was too busy jotting down notes as Rey’s eyes lingered on the bodies.  _ There’s still something that she’s holding back. Why can’t she just tell me?  _ When Finn pressed her on the note she simply said, “I need to go home and analyze it more before I can give you a definitive answer.” 

 

“When can you have a definitive answer?” Finn asked.

 

“Today’s Wednesday, right?”

“Yes.” 

 

“Friday morning at the latest.” Finn looked slightly annoyed for a second but allowed her to take it home. Kylo was relieved when he was out of there. He hadn’t wanted to look at those bodies any longer. When Rey and Kylo got back home, Rey sighed audibly and the tension in her body visibly loosened. It was a sight that was very un-Rey like. “Do you have any liquor?” She said. 

 

“What?” Something about that sentence confused him. He wasn’t exactly sure what though. 

 

“Liquor? Got any?” 

 

“Whiskey and scotch.”

 

“Which one is harder?” Kylo looked her up and down. Rey was tiny, so there was no way that she would last long with either. 

 

“Whiskey,” He lied. Rey and Kylo walked up the stairs and assumed their natural positions in their favorite chairs. “Have you even ever drank before?” 

 

“I’m nineteen and a half, not an infant.” She stuck out her tongue. Kylo rolled his eyes, refraining himself from telling her that she acted like one. He hadn’t mentioned that the answer that she gave was not an actual answer, but rather a line of defense that was neither a lie nor the truth. “Please?” 

 

The way her eyes looked. He couldn’t say no. “Only a little bit.” He said. He went down to the kitchen momentarily to bring up a bottle and then closed the doors behind him. He’d rather not have his mother walk in if he or Rey got a little bit out of hand. He poured her a fifth and poured himself a fifth before sitting back down. Rey looked at the amber liquid for a minute before taking the glass in one hand downing it’s contents. She made a face. Kylo considered asking her if she’d ever drank again but decided not to. It’d been a long day for her. She needed a break. 

 

The girl shook her head for a second before grabbing the bottle and pouring more of the alcohol into her cup. “Hey, go slow.” He told her. Rey nodded and this time only took a sip. It did not take very long for Rey to look dazed. It was quite weird to see the girl zoned out in such a way. Her eyes focused on Kylo. 

 

“I uh...feel better.” 

 

“You do?” He raised an eyebrow. The whiskey still hadn’t phased him that much, but something told Kylo that he was going to have to deal with a very hungover Rey tomorrow. The girl giggled, something that she almost never did.

 

“Yes,” She slurred, elongating the ‘s’ in a hissing sound as she spoke. “A lot.” 

 

This was going to be a long night. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
